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ECONOMIC  RESOURCES 
AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS 


.  OF  THE 

^UNIVERSITY 

OF 


PHILIPPINE      COMMERCIAL     AGENCIES 


GRAND    CENTRAL    PALACE 
NEW    YORK    CITY 


PRICE,  $0.50 


MERCHANTS  EXCHANGE   BUILDTNG 
SAN    FRANCISCO,   OAL. 

1920 


<b 


dS 


q 


v 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation. 


http://www.archive.org/details/economicresourceOOphilrich 


PERSONNEL    OF    THE    PHILIPPINE 
COMMERCIAL     AGENCIES 


DIONISIO   JAKOSALEM,    Secretary 
COMMERCE  &  COMMUNICATIONS 

Philippine  Government,  Manila,  P.  I. 

FIDEL    A.  REYES,    Director 
BUREAU  OF  COMMERCE  &  INDUSTRY  ^^ 

Philippine  Government,  Manila,  P.  I. 

JAMES    J.     RAFFERTY 
PHILIPPINE  TRADE  COMMISSIONER  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES 
Grand  Central  Palace,  New  York  City 

ARSENIO    N.    LUZ,    Commercial  Agent 
NEW  YORK  OFFICE,  PHILIPPINE  COMMERCIAL  AGENCY 
(Grand  Central  Palace) 

MANUEL    J.    DE    LA    RAMA,  Manager 
SAN  FRANCISCO  OFFICE,  PHILIPPINE   COMMERCIAL  AGENCY 
(Merchants  Exchange  Building) 

HELENE    H.    WILSON,    Publicity   Secretary 
PHILIPPINE  COMMERCIAL  AGENCIES 

Grand  Central  Palace,  New  York  City 


Compiled  and  Published  by  the 

PUBLICITY     DEPARTMENT 

PHILIPPINE    COMMERCIAL    AGENCIES 

1920 


4-15-20-10M-N.  Y.-B. 


SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION  ON  PHILIPPINE  COMMER- 
CIAL AND   INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

Detail  information  on  resources,  commercial  and  industrial  de- 
velopment is  available  at  the  following  American  and  Philippine 
Government  Bureaus: 

Bureau  of  Insular  Affairs,  U.  S.  War  Department,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 
Far  Eastern  Division,  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Com- 
merce, Washington,  D.  C. 
Bureau  of  Commerce  and  Industry,  Manila,  P.  I. 
Bureau  of  Science,  Manila,  P.  I. 
Bureau  of  Agriculture,  Manila,  P.  I. 
Bureau  of  Forestry,  Manila,  P.  I. 
Philippine   Commercial  Agency,   Grand   Central   Palace,   New 

York  City. 
Philippine   Commercial   Agency,   Merchants   Exchange   Build- 
ing, San  Francisco,  California. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Alcohol 70 

Alcohol   (Industrial)    70 

Commercial  Agencies  in  the  United  States  (Philippine)   7 

Coconut    Growing   and    Copra    22 

Coconut   Plantation    (estimate   for   development   of  2,500   acres   utilizing 

hemp  cultivation  to  finance  coconut's  development) 25 

Coffee    32 

Embroidery    Industry    72 

Fisheries   (Opportunities  for  development)    65 

Hemp,    Premiere   Industry   of    the    Philippines 37 

Honey   (Opportunities  for  development) 70 

Hats    and    Hat    Making    75 

Lumbering  Industry  in  the  Philippines    60 

Lime  and  Silicate  Industries  (Opportunities  for  development) 68 

Mining  Industry    55 

Medicinal  Plants   (Opportunities  for 'development) 69 

Oil   Fields    57 

Pineapples    30 

Papaya  Gum  (Opportunities  for  development) 69 

Paper  Pulp  (Opportunities  for  development)    71 

Rural  Credit  Associations  in  the  Philippines   9 

Railways  and  their  Rivals 13 

Rice 40 

Rubber  Growing  in  the  Philippines   45 

Rope  Industry   (Opportunities   for  development) 71 

Sugar  Industry  in  the  Philippines  49 

Starch   (Opportunities   for  development)    66 

"-Tobacco    16 

Tanning  Materials  (Opportunities  for  development)   69 

Vegetables  Oils  (Opportunities  for  development)    67 

Water  Power  and  Electrical  Development  71 


49290° 


i  ' 


PREFACE. 

This  is  the  first  issue  of  a  series  of  bulletins  which  the  Philippine 
Commercial  Agencies  will  publish  from  time  to  time.  Its  aim  is  to 
furnish  those  who  are  interested  in  the  economic  development  of  the 
Philippines  with  reliable  data  on  the  commercial  and  industrial  develop- 
ment of  the  country. 

It  is  arranged  in  the  form  of  a  compilation  of  articles,  prepared  by 
those  who  have  first-hand  information  on  their  topics,  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  the  information  something  of  a  personal  touch. 

Acknowledgments  are  due  the  New  York  Office  of  the  Trans- 
pacific Magazine,  The  Manila  Daily  Bulletin,  The  Manila  Merchants 
Association,  Lumber  and  the  American  Exporter  for  their  co-opera- 
tion in  permitting  reprint  of  special  articles  originally  appearing  in 
their  publications. 

Helene  H.  Wilson, 

Publicity  Secretary. 


Arsenio  N.  Luz,  Commercial  Agent  and  Manager, 
Philippine  Commercial  Agency,  New  York. 


M.  J.  de  La  Rama,  Manager, 
Philippine  Commercial  Agency,  San  Francisco. 


PHILIPPINE   COMMERCIAL  AGENCIES   IN   THE  UNITED 

STATES. 

By  Arsenio  N.  Luz, 
,  Philippine  Government  Commercial  Agent,  New  York. 

The  desire  of  the  Government  of  the  Philippine  Islands  to  estab- 
lish closer  commercial  relations  between  the  Philippines  and  the 
United  States  has  been  crystallized  into  action.  During  his  recent 
visit  to  America  in  1919  J.  J.  Rafferty,  Director  Philippine  Bureau 
of  Commerce  and  Industry,  established  two  commercial  agencies  as 


local  offices  of  the  Philippine  Bureau  of  Commerce  and  Industry,  one 
on  the  Western  and  the  other  on  the  Eastern  Coast,  San  Francisco 
and  New  York.  Similar  agencies  will  soon  be  opened  at  other  im- 
portant points  in  the  United  States. 

The  activities  of  the  Philippine  Commercial  Agencies  are  varied. 
But  their  primary  object  is  to  establish  closer  trade  relations  between 
the  Philippines  and  the  United  States. 

These  offices  are  prepared  to  advise  those  contemplating  investment 
or  desiring  information  about  the  natural  resources  of  the  Philippines, 
particularly  in  regard  to  the  development  of  hemp,  cocoanut,  sugar, 
tobacco,  coffee,  rubber,  and  pineapple  plantations,  the  mineral  and 
timber  resources,  and  to  furnish  the  latest  official  commercial  statistics. 

They  are  in  close  touch  with  leading  American  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce and  exert  every  effort  to  give  the  American  business  man 
service  and  advice  regarding  future  investment  in  the  Philippine  Isl- 
ands. Twice  a  month  information  bulletins  are  issued.  They  give  a 
resume  of  up-to-date  commercial  statistics,  recent  legislation  affecting 
commerce  and  trade,  and  an  accurate  description  of  the  progress  and 
development  of  the  business  of  the  country. 

Information  regarding  shipping,  packing  instructions,  custom  and 
tariff  laws,  banking  facilities  and  all  other  details  needed  by  the  ex- 
porter or  the  manufacturer  will  be  promptly  and  accurately  given 
upon  application. 

To  a  prospective  American  exporter  our  help  will  consist  in  aiding 
him  in  his  study  of  the  market.  We  shall  tell  him  whether  a  demand 
exists  or  can  be  created  for  his  goods  of  the  quality  and  price  offered 
by  him.  We  shall  inform  him  of  the  personnel  of  the  trade  channels 
and  the  commercial  practice  in  the  Philippines.  We  shall  advise  him 
of  the  factors  which  determine  for  each  exporter  the  trade  channels 
best  adapted  to  his  circumstances  to  secure  trade  contact  with  our 
market.  In  fine,  we  shall  tell  him  whether  his  goods  can  be  exported 
to  the  Philippine  Islands  and  sold  at  a  profit. 

To  an  American  prospective  importer  of  Philippine  goods,  we 
are  ready  to  give  the  proper  connections  and  aid  him  in  the  acquisition 
of  Philippine  products  under  the  best  of  terms.  We  have  in  our 
files  complete  lists  of  Philippine  dealers  in  all  staple  products  and  other 
principal  exports  of  the  Filipinos.  These  lists  are  at  the  disposal  of 
those  who  desire  to  establish  trade  connection  with  any  Philippine 
business  man.  • 

At  the  Grand  Central  Palace,  New  York  City,  and  at  the  Merch- 
ants Exchange  Building  in  San  Francisco,  California,  those  interested 
in  a  display  of  beautiful  hand-made  Philippine  embroideries,  hats  and 
agricultural  products  of  the  Islands,  have  at  their  disposal  the  per- 
manent exhibits  of  the  Commercial  Agencies. 


Our  motto  is  "  Service."  American  business  men  are  invited  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  help  these  offices  are  ready  to  give  them  for  the 
fostering  of  closer  trade  relations  between  the  two  countries  and  the 
development  of  Filipino-American  trade. 

RURAL  CREDIT  ASSOCIATIONS  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES. 

By  A.  W.  Prautch, 

Chief,  Philippine  Rural  Credit  Division,  Bureau  of  Agriculture. 

The  Rural  Credit  Law  of  the  Philippines  was  enacted  to  remove 
the  restriction  in  the  Corporation  Law  requiring  200,000  pesos  paid-in 
capital  before  a  bank  may  be  started,  and  to  provide  rules  and  regu- 
lations to  insure  the  operation  of  the  rural  credit  associations  and 
safeguard  the  interests  of  small  investors,  general  public  and  Govern- 
ment. These  associations  may  incorporate  with  a  paid-in  capital  as 
low  as  100  pesos  or  as  high  as  10,000.  The  shareholders  who  con- 
tribute this  sum  elect  boards  of  five  directors,  who  approve  or  dis- 
approve loans,  sell  shares,  borrow  working  capital  and  manage  all  the 
affairs  of  their  associations.  Where  the  directors  are  active  the 
work  goes  forward,  but  where  figurehead  directors  are  selected,  be- 
cause of  social  standing  or  prominence,  the  association  lags,  yet  this 
very  experience  teaches  the  lesson  of  self-government  more  effectively 
than  theory  ever  could,  and  there  is  always  the  opportunity  at  the  next 
election  to  remedy  the  unfavorable  condition  by  changing  the  member- 
ship of  the  board. 

The  law  specifies  that  only  one  association  may  be  incorporated 
in  a  municipality,  the  purpose  being  to  avoid  rivalry  and  factions. 
The  provision  that  the  bonded  municipal  treasurer  shall  act  as  treas- 
urer ex-oificio  without  extra  remuneration  and  that  the  Government 
auditor  shall  audit  the  association's  books  at  the  same  time  municipal 
accounts  are  being  audited  inspires  the  unsophisticated  investors  with 
confidence  in  the  association.  Thus  they  are  satisfied  that  their  few 
pesos  are  safe.  Possibly  no  other  single  feature  has  contributed 
more  to  the  success  of  the  associations  than  this  wise  provision  for 
the  protection  of  the  funds. 

All  payments  are  made  by  the  treasurers  on  vouchers  passed  by 
the  board  of  directors.  No  individual  may  own  more  than  500  pesos' 
worth  of  shares,  and  each  shareholder  has  only  one  vote,  irrespective 
of  the  number  of  shares  he  owns.  Associations  enjoy  certain  exemp- 
tions until  their  paid-in  capital  stock  is  10,000  pesos.  Among  these 
are  the  following:  Taxes,  revenue  charges,  revenue  stamps,  registra- 
tion fees  of  mortgages  or  documents,  court  fees  incidental  to  the 
collection  of  unpaid  debts  and  the  like.  These  exemptions  are  allowed 
to  continue  until  the  association  is  on  its  feet  and  can  pay  its  way. 


10 

The  Government  furnishes  no  financial  help  directly  or  indirectly 
after  the  associations  are  formed.  The  organizing  staff  is  paid  by 
the  Government,  as  otherwise  no  one  would  systematically  and  con- 
tinuously push  this  solution  of  the  question  as  to  how  to  provide 
working  capital  for  small  farmers  by  banding  them  together  into  a 
"  home  defense  guard."  No  one  in  the  association  receives  pay ;  their 
public  spirit  and  civic  pride  are  appealed  to.  Forms,  supplies,  books 
and  share  stock  forms  are  paid  for  by  the  association  out  of  a  fund 
made  up  from  the  small  entrance  fees.  Everything  aims  to  develop 
self-help.  The  agents  never  do  for  an  association  what  it  can  do  for 
itself,  nor  do  they  omit  to  point  out  the  danger  of  a  doubtful  course 
and  the  advantages  of  right  management.  Naturally,  anything  con- 
trary to  the  Rural  Credit  Law  (No.  2508)  is  sternly  stopped,  and  the 
reason  is  clearly  stated.  The  character  of  rural  credit  associations 
must,  like  Caesar's  wife,  remain  above  suspicion,  a  condition  which 
would  not  continue  without  a  Government  staff  to  advise  and  guide  in 
the  apprentice  period. 

In  getting  the  work  started  the  organizing  staff  of  the  Bureau  of 
Agriculture's  Rural  Credit  Division  visits  towns,  distributes  copies 
of  Law  2508,  points  out  the  benefits  which  the  whole  community  will 
reap  if  the  small  farmer  can  keep  the  money  which  he  would  other- 
wise expend  for  usurious  interest  on  the  loans  he  must  have.  It  is 
also  pointed  out  that  this  interest  stays  in  the  town  instead  of  going 
to  the  capitalists  in  the  large  centers,  and  that  in  time  a  strong  village 
bank  will  be  the  result  of  this  co-operative  effort.  People  who  are 
not  borrowers  are  urged  to  buy  shares  in  order  that  a  worthy  institu- 
tion may  have  funds  to  lend.  If  sufficient  interest  is  manifested  they 
proceed  to  organize.  A  meeting  is  called  and  those  who  have  sub- 
scribed and  paid  for  shares  select  the  incorporators,  of  whom  there 
cannot  be  less  than  five  nor  more  than  fifteen.  From  these,  five  di- 
rectors are  chosen  to  serve  until  the  first  shareholders'  meeting  is 
held,  when  these  or  other  directors  are  formally  elected.  Incorpora- 
tion papers  are  registered  without  expense  to  the  association.  The 
directors  then  receive  applications  for  loans  and  approve  or  disap- 
prove them.     Their  action  is  final. 

If  an  application  is  approved  a  voucher  is  drawn  on  the  treasurer, 
and  the  money  is  paid  to  the  borrower.  The  law  compels  the  exaction 
of  security  for  all  loans,  which  security  may  be  represented  by  mort- 
gage on  land,  pledge  of  work  animals  or  the  like,  or  by  endorsement 
by  "  two  persons  of  recognized  solvency  in  the  community.,,  Our 
work  is  done  only  on  personal  guaranty  because  the  loans  are  small, 
and  if  the  borrower  is  doubtful  or  tricky  his  application  is  disap- 
proved by  the  directors.  The  division  has  even  begun  a  step  further 
back  by  refusing  admission  to  membership  of  such  characters,  thus 


11 

reducing  the  number  of  refusals.  These  associations  do  not  attempt 
to  reform  loafers  or  to  provide  easy  money  for  the  careless,  but  aim  to 
unite  earnest,  industrious  farmers  in  a  co-operative  self-help  associa- 
tion. 

When  the  paid-in  capital  is  1,000  pesos  or  more  an  association  is 
permitted  by  the  Philippine  National  Bank  to  borrow  an  equal  amount 
on  the  security  of  its  capital  and  the  joint  and  several  notes  of  the  five 
directors,  whose  assessed  property  is  certified  to  by  the  municipal 
treasurer.  The  National  Bank  also  lends  larger  amounts  to  associa- 
tions on  the  joint  and  several  security  of  growing  crops,  stored  pro- 
duce, work  animals,  sugar  mills  and  other  property  of  the  members, 
the  mortgage  being  made  out  in  favor  of  the  association,  which  is  a 
corporation,  and  this  accompanies  the  joint  and  several  note  of  the 
directors.  There  is  no  maudlin  sentiment  or  mistaken  pity  for  the 
poor,  but  practical  help  for  those  willing  to  help  themselves.  The 
bank  charges  8  per  cent,  to  the  association,  which  charges  its  members 
10  per  cent.,  the  resulting  profit  going  to  the  association.  Twenty 
associations  have  received  loans  aggregating  80,000  pesos. 

The  first  rural  credit  association  was  incorporated  October  19,  1916. 
There  were,  on  May  20,  1919,  325  incorporated  associations  and  over 
100  more  in  various  stages  of  organization.  The  paid-in  capital  at 
incorporation  was  164,846  pesos,  which  has  been  increased  by  further 
sales  of  shares  to  more  than  400,000  pesos.  Over  30,000  members 
have  bought  these  shares,  and  loans  aggregating  over  350,000  pesos 
have  been  made  to  over  6,000  members.  Official  returns  from  the 
treasurers  were  made  December  31,  1918,  and  this  estimate,  which  is 
probably  conservative,  is  made  on  reports  of  progress  sent  in  by  the 
division's  agents. 

In  addition  to  these  financial  activities,  the  Legislature  designated 
the  rural  credit  associations  to  be  agents  to  lend  1,000,000  pesos  to 
responsible  persons  who  will  plant  uncultivated  areas  in  rice  and  corn. 
The  Secretary  of  Agriculture  and  Natural  Resources  finally  passes 
on  such  applications  received  from  associations.  No  loans  may  be 
made  directly  to  individuals,  the  reason  being  that  no  central  agency 
can  possibly  determine  the  reliability  of  the  applicant  as  well  as  can 
the  directors  of  this  association.  The  expense  and  trouble  of  investi- 
gation is  obviated  by  making  the  total  loan  to  the  association  under 
precisely  the  same  conditions  as  the  National  Bank  loans  are  made,  as 
explained  above.  The  directors  having  assumed  responsibility  for 
the  repayment  of  the  loan,  will,  for  their  own  personal  protection, 
exercise  great  caution  in  lending  this  money  only  for  productive  pur- 
poses and  to  responsible  persons.  The  purpose  of  the  1,000,000  pesos 
fund  is  to  develop  the  production  of  food  in  the  Philippines  to  the 
point  where  importation  of  rice  will  be  unnecessary.     By  May,  1919, 


12 

applications  had  been  received  from  170  associations,  totaling  over 
800,000  pesos.  These  were  being  carefully  investigated,  and  Secretary 
Apacible  had  already  granted  loans  amounting  to  212,600  pesos  to  53 
of  these.  It  would  have  been  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  have 
carried  out  these  useful  loans  without  the  co-operation  of  the  rural 
credit  associations,  with  their  local  knowledge  and  community  interest. 

No  one  cares  to  read  about  failures.  In  justice  to  the  325  asso- 
ciations it  should  be  said  that  there  is  not  one  which  can  be  styled  a 
failure.  Two  hundred  are  making  healthy  progress,  the  others  have 
ailments  which,  while  not  fatal,  retard  their  growth.  Their  chief 
trouble  is  that  they  have  been  unfortunate  in  the  selection  of  directors. 
But  the  money  they  manage  is  their  own,  and  they  are  working  out 
their  own  salvation.  The  Division  hopes  they  will  outgrow  their  infan- 
tile troubles  and  is  encouraged  by  signs  of  improvement.  In  three 
cases  the  interests  of  the  men  on  the  boards  suffered  by  the  libera- 
tion of  the  poor.  Naturally  they  opposed  progress,  but  even  in  asso- 
ciations thus  handicapped  a  large  number  of  members  clearly  see  the 
light,  and  time  and  another  election  will  remedy  the  temporary  set- 
back. There  are  also  some  "  one-man  "  associations,  the  machinery 
of  which  stops  when  this  one  man  is  absent.  It  is  not  possible  to 
realize  the  ideal  type  of  association  without  depriving  the  members  of 
initiative  and  liberty,  and  doing  everything  for  them.  If  these  are  to 
be  worth-while  associations,  they  must  be  co-operative,  and  even  if  it 
takes  years  to  put  the  backward  ones  on  their  feet  the  time  will  be 
considered  well  spent. 

San  Remigio,  Antique  Province,  is  a  small,  poor  town.  Its  associa- 
tion asked  to  be  incorporated  on  July  14,  1917,  with  only  94  pesos  cash 
in  hand.  In  consideration  of  its  condition,  this  was  granted.  Six 
months  later  the  writer  visited  this  humble  community  and  found  that 
its  association  had  over  1,000  pesos  capital,  and  that  all  but  4  pesos 
was  lent  out.  At  a  meeting  of  all  the  members  I  heard  statements 
of  loans  as  small  as  7  pesos  being  granted  to  the  needy.  I  got  a  loan 
of  1,000  pesos  for  this  valiant  association  from  the  National  Bank, 
which  doubled  its  working  capital.  The  members  labored  on  with 
new  hope,  and  in  March,  1919,  they  had  completed  5,000  pesos  of  their 
own  paid-in  capital.  This,  with  the  money  borrowed  and  deposited, 
gives  them  a  working  capital  of  nearly  10,000  pesos.  One  example 
of  self -development  like  this  convinces  me  that  the  plan  is  adaptable 
to  the  people  and  that  the  people  will  adapt  themselves  to  the  plan. 

In  Sibalom,  Antique  Province,  at  a  meeting  of  the  directors  and  a 
dozen  leading  members,  several  speakers  reviewed  the  happenings  of 
the  18  months'  existence  of  this  association  and  stated  that  the  6,000 
pesos  of  their  own  and  borrowed  capital  had  given  their  members  a 
direct  benefit  of  over  30,000  pesos.     Formerly  they  had  been  com- 


13 

pelled  to  repay  each  peso  borrowed  at  planting  with  a  cavan  (44  kilos.) 
of  unhusked  rice.  This  year  the  directors  had  supplied  really  neces- 
sary money  and  had  advised  applicants  how  to  do  without  unnecessary 
expenses;  they  had  also  advanced  money  needed  after  harvest  to 
enable  the  grower  to  hold  his  rice  until  the  market  improved  and  he 
could  benefit  by  the  rise  in  price. 

It  is  impossible  in  this  article  even  to  mention  several  hundred 
similarly  encouraging  incidents  in  various  associations.  It  suffices  to 
say  that  the  plan  of  making  the  "  scholar  "  work  out  his  own  problem, 
instead  of  putting  down  the  correct  answers  on  his  slate  without  his 
knowing  why  or  how  the  "  answer "  was  reached,  is  bringing  the 
desired  results. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  write  of  the  dozen  women  farmers  who 
are  incorporators  and  directors ;  of  the  score  or  more  Roman  Catholic 
priests,  incorporators  and  directors,  who  are  helping  their  flocks  to 
enjoy  something  of  heaven  this  side  of  the  pearly  gates ;  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  disinterested  teachers,  officials  and  citizens  who  are  doing 
their  bit  to  improve  associations  and  communities. 

Our  greatest  problem  lies  in  the  imparting  of  an  understanding  of 
the  principles  of  rural  credit  to  the  large  majority  of  members  who 
know  absolutely  nothing  about  co-operation  beyond  the  point  that  the 
plan,  as  presented  to  them,  seemed  good  and  they  bought  shares. 
Unless  the  principles  of  co-operation  are  constantly  insisted  on,  these 
associations  will  degenerate  into  village  money-lending  concerns  in- 
stead of  being  moral  and  social  regenerating  centers.  Their  possibili- 
ties for  good  are  great.  It  is  also  apparent  that  if  they  are  not  care- 
fully supervised,  and  if  promptness  in  payments  is  not  exacted,  their 
possibility  for  evil  will  be  equally  great. 

No  defalcation  or  serious  differences  between  directors  have  oc- 
curred. Earnest  efforts  by  agents  and  well  wishers  have  kept  the 
work  at  a  high  standard  and  there  we  shall  ever  endeavor  to  keep  it, 
working  at  the  same  time  to  increase  the  number  of  associations  and 
their  efficiency  among  a  people  who  have  suffered  much  through  usury 
and  who  welcome  any  plan  that  offers  relief. 

PHILIPPINE  RAILWAYS  AND  THEIR  RIVALS. 
By  A.  E.  Gilmount. 

Compared  with  the  phenomenal  progress  made  along  agricultural 
and  industrial  lines,  railroad  communications  in  the  Philippines  have 
not  reached  such  a  stage  of  development  as  could  be  expected ;  yet  the 
country  is  about  as  well  served  with  railways  as  conditions  justify. 
While  there  may  be  room  for  extensions  and  new  lines  the  fact,  borne 
out  by  figures,  is  that  to-day  the  Islands  have  more  mileage  than  can 


14 

be  properly  supported  by  revenues,  a  condition  due  in  no  small  measure 
to  keen  competition  from  motor  and  water  transportation.  About  755 
miles  of  railroad  are  being  operated,  the  major  part  by  the  Govern- 
ment, and  the  remainder  by  a  private  concern.  The  Government  lines 
are  located  on  the  Island  of  Luzon,  while  the  private  roads  are  con- 
fined to  the  Islands  of  Cebu  and  Panay.  About  30  miles  of  track  are 
now  under  construction,  and  about  100  seriously  projected,  so  that 
several  years  will  probably  pass  before  Philippine  railroads  reach  a 
total  length  expressable  in  four  figures ;  and  this  is  after  32  years  of 
railroad  enterprise  in  a  land  of  120,000  square  miles,  with  10,000,000 
people,  and  with  business  and  industrial  investments  estimated  at  half 
a  billion  pesos. 

The  public  and  the  railroads  have,  so  to  speak,  been  journeying 
hand  in  hand,  a  sort  of  struggle  between  cost  of  operation  and  traffic 
revenues.  Within  the  last  three  years,  however,  since  Government 
ownership  was  initiated,  the  people  have  been  gradually  educated  to 
the  value  of  railroads  and  what  they  mean  to  the  development  of  the 
country,  and,  incidentally,  to  the  negotiable  values  of  real  estate.  The 
latter  feature  has  perhaps  proved  the  most  convincing  argument. 

Considering  the  physical  features  of  the  Philippine  Archipelago 
with  the  fact  that  every  point  on  the  coast  is  well  served  with  coast- 
wise steamers  operating  on  regular  schedules,  one  can  readily  under- 
stand why  railroads  in  the  Islands  will  never  equal  in  mileage  or 
investment  those  of  many  other  insular  countries,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
big  continental  systems.  Water  transportation  has  always  been,  and 
probably  always  will  be,  the  principal  means  of  carrying  passengers 
and  cargo.  In  consequence  there  is  to-day  an  inter-island  fleet,  includ- 
ing a  number  of  speedy  and  well-appointed  steamers,  the  tonnage  of 
which  is  very  creditable. 

Another  formidable  rival  to  the  railroads,  which  already  has  taken 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  pesos  from  their  earnings,  is  motor  trans- 
portation. Following  the  completion  of  numerous  highways  initiated 
by  the  Forbes  administration,  well  organized  systems  of  motor  trans- 
portation have  been  established  throughout  the  Islands,  and  these  by 
cheap  rates  have  reduced  railroad  travel  to  almost  nothing  in  some 
places. 

Of  the  755  miles  of  road  in  the  Islands,  four-fifths  are  on  Luzon. 
A  hasty  glance  at  the  map  would  lead  one  to  believe  that  at  least  half 
a  dozen  of  the  Islands  should  be  able  to  support  railroads,  but  this  is 
not  the  case,  according  to  railroad  experts  who,  following  the  American 
occupation,  made  a  complete  survey  of  the  field.  All  the  Islands  are 
skirted  by  narrow  coastal  plains  which  gird  mountains  or  hilly  country, 
where  railroad  construction  and  maintenance  would,  considering  the 
earnings,  be  a  ruinous  undertaking. 


15 

The  Manila  Railroad  Company,  a  British  corporation  operating  in 
Luzon  until  1916,  was  on  the  verge  of  failure  when  the  Government 
took  it  over.  The  Philippine  Railway  Company,  operating  in  its  four- 
teenth year  in  the  Visayas,  is  expected  to  pass  into  Government  owner- 
ship soon.  Its  lines  on  the  Island  of  Cebu  are  hopeless,  experts  say, 
unless  modified  for  suburban  service  around  the  City  of  Cebu,  while 
the  Panay  line  is  only  a  tolerable  business  proposition. 

In  Luzon,  the  Government  is  now  engaged  in  extending  its  Manila- 
South  line  to  the  southern  point  of  the  Island.  This  program  will 
occupy  several  years.  The  only  other  considerable  project  which  the 
present  directors  consider  is  an  extension  from  Central  Luzon  up 
through  the  heart  of  the  Island  to  the  big  river  valley  which  drains  the 
northeast  provinces.  This  is  looked  upon  as  the  limit  for  Luzon  for 
decades. 

The  Island  of  Mindanao  in  the  south  will  some  day  support  con- 
siderable railway  lines,  but  present  belief  is  that  such  will  not  be  pro- 
vided within  the  next  20  years.  The  country  is  practically  untouched, 
so  that,  while  railroads  would  hasten  tremendously  the  development 
of  great  resources,  the  investment  would  most  likely  be  tied  up  for  a 
considerable  period. 

Such  in  general  are  the  conditions,  which  have,  up  to  1919,  after 
32  years  of  railroad  development,  attracted  an  investment  of  close  to 
$45,000,000. 

The  present  absorbing  feature  of  Philippine  railways  is  the  matter 
of  Government  ownership.  The  war  hastened  the  downfall  of  the 
Manila  Railroad  Company,  which  during  1914,  1915  and  1916  began  to 
show  losses;  but  other  elements  of  degeneration,  such  as  the  loss  of 
$2,500,000  in  a  projected  branch  from  the  main  line  up  through  the 
terrific  mountain  country  to  Baguio  were  already  spelling  disaster  for 
the  railroad,  and  preventing  it  from  furnishing  Luzon  with  adequate 
rail  service. 

The  Manila  Railroad  Company  franchise  was  granted  by  the 
Spanish  Crown  in  1886,  and  work  was  commenced  the  following  year. 
In  1889,  Horace  L.  Higgins  took  over  the  management  of  the  construc- 
tion and  road,  continuing  in  charge  until  January  of  1917,  when  the 
road  passed  over  to  the  Government.  After  five  and  a  half  years,  late 
in  1892,  120  miles  of  track  between  Manila  and  Dagupan  were  in 
operation,  the  cost  having  been  approximately  $4,000,000.  The  in- 
teresting history  of  the  road  during  that  period  and  until  the  end  of 
Spanish  rule  is  all  but  lost,  for  the  English  owners  left  few  of  the 
documents  which  passed  between  them  and  the  Spanish  authorities. 

From  1898  to  1901  insurrection  in  Luzon  wrecked  large  portions  of 
the  track  and  property.  For  a  period  the  United  States  Quartermaster 
Department  operated  the  railroad  as  fast  as  it  was  taken  from  the 


16 

insurgents  by  United  States  forces.  Subsequently,  the  United  States 
Government  paid  the  company  indemnity  for  the  damages  sustained 
through  granting  additional  franchises  and  Government  guarantees. 

An  extensive  construction  program  was  financed  from  1906  to 
1913,  lines  being  extended  both  north  and  south.  With  the  advent  of 
the  European  war  and  other  adverse  conditions,  however,  the  company 
found  itself  financially  embarrassed  and  the  Government  took  over  out- 
standing stock  with  a  par  value  of  $5,783,500  for  a  price  of  $4,000,000, 
as  well  as  obligations  amounting  to  about  $31,000,000. 

In  1916  the  Philippine  Government  was  severely  criticized  for  its 
purchase  of  the  Manila  Railroad.  However,  in  face  of  the  financial 
results  obtained  by  its  administration,  placing  the  road  on  its  feet 
financially,  all  opposition  to  Government  ownership  has  ceased.  An- 
other important  factor  favoring  public  ownership  is  lack  of  private 
capital.  While  private  capital  may  be  secured  for  industrial  enter- 
prises, none  is  forthcoming  for  public  utilities  subject  to  Government 
supervision. 

Government  ownership  has  proved  successful,  and  now  the  insular 
authorities  are  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  the  lines  on  Cebu  and 
Panay,  belonging  to  the  Philippine  Railway  Company. 

AGRICULTURAL 
RESOURCES   AND    THEIR   DEVELOPMENT?. 

/  I 

PHILIPPINE  TOBACCO-,  w  >>W   -       ^ 

By  Domingo  B.  Paguirigan.  S^\*r^jr 

Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue,  Manila,  P.  I. 

Tobacco  was  introduced  into  the  Philippines  by  Spanish  mission- 
aries coming  from  Mexico  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  shortly  after  the  establishment  of  Spanish  sovereignty.  The 
production  of  tobacco,  however,  did  not  become  a  real  industry  until 
1781,  when  the  Spanish  Government  enforced  its  exclusive  rights  to 
traffic  in  the  product  and  when  the  production  and  sale  of  the  com- 
modity were  formally  made  a  state  monopoly.  This  monopoly  lasted 
throughout  the  hundred  years  from  1783  to  1883.  Under  government 
control  every  detail  of  the  industry,  from  the  preparation  of  the  seed 
beds  to  the  marketing  of  the  leaf  or  its  products,  was  strictly  super- 
vised by  qualified  officials.  In  the  field,  there  was  a  chief  appraiser, 
styled  " interventor"  residing  at  the  provincial  capital,  who  had  forces 
of  subordinates  known  as  " alumnos  ajoradores"  These  officials  were 
further  administratively  aided  by  the  municipal  "  caudillo "  (head 
man),  who  was  also  the  " gobernadorcillo  "  (little  governor),  and  by 
his  "tenientes"  (lieutenants,  or  overseers).     Penalties  were  inflicted' 


17 

upon  growers  who  failed  to  observe  the  instructions  or  orders  issued 
by  the  Government. 

The  crop  produced  by  a  grower  was  limited  by  the  Government 
according  to  the  size  of  his  family  and  cured  only  in  especially  built 
drying  sheds.  The  product  therefore  gained  an  enviable  reputation 
for  quality.  But  hard  and  strict  as  the  measures  regulating  the  grow- 
ing and  curing  of  tobacco  were  at  that  time,  the  natives,  soldier-like, 
soon  became  accustomed  to  the  discipline.  As  a  proof  of  this  fact, 
later  on,  when  it  was  rumored  that  the  system  was  to  be  abolished, 
most  of  the  native  growers  energetically  opposed  its  discontinuance  to 
such  an  extent  that  even  the  friars  advocated  their  cause.  Only  the 
scandalous  abuses  and  the  graft  which  generally  prevailed  among  the 
subordinate  officials  finally  led  to  the  absolute  abolishment  of  the 
system. 

During  the  existence  of  the  tobacco  monopoly,  it  was  the  chief 
source  of  income  to  the  Government,  and  even  in  its  irregular  last  year 
it  yielded  enough  to  cover  about  50  per  cent,  of  the  total  budget  of 
expenditures. 

Contrary  to  expectation,  once  the  force  which  had  compelled  the 
growers  to  follow  fixed  regulations  was  withdrawn,  the  methods  of 
production  gradually  went  from  bad  to  worse.  The  planters  ignored 
quality  for  quantity,  and  the  general  results  were  that  good  practices 
were  more  or  less  neglected.  However,  the  planters  should  not  be  too 
much  blamed,  for  the  prevailing  method  of  buying  tobacco  even  to-day 
is  based  chiefly  on  weight,  the  standard  being  the  Spanish  quintal, 
which  is  equivalent  to  46  kilos,  or  about  102  pounds.  Competition  is 
so  keen  among  the  buyers  that  they  do  not  take  the  proper  time  to 
examine  the  quality  of  the  crop,  but  simply  offer  a  price  for  each  lot 
as  a  whole. 

In  1909,  when  the  United  States  Congress  passed  the  Payne  Bill, 
which  includes  a  provision  admitting  Philippine  tobacco  into  the  United 
States  free  of  duty,  contrary  to  the  belief  that  such  a  privilege  would 
help  restore  the  value  of  our  tobacco,  matters  went  unfavorably.  The 
causes  of  failure  of  Philippine  tobacco  in  the  United  States  proved  to 
be  matters  and  incidents  which  a  timely  pre-acquaintance  with  Amer- 
ican business  ways  could  have  easily  prevented.  The  farmers  were 
allowed  to  grow  their  tobacco  as  they  pleased.  Leaves  from  the 
provinces  came  to  the  factories  in  Manila  in  awful  mixtures,  and  on 
account  of  rush  orders  from  America  the  leaves  were  used  without 
being  thoroughly  sorted.  One  of  the  inevitable  results  following  such 
practices  was  that  the  identity  of  the  cigar  brands  became  lost.  A 
brand  cannot  be  identified  unless  it  is  made  of  the  same  color  and  grade 
of  leaf  or  leaves,  so  that  the  flavor  will  be  uniform  and  peculiarly  dis- 
tinguishable from  that  of  other  makes. 


18 

On  account  of  the  extremely  big  orders,  which  Manila  manufac- 
turers were  not  used  to,  the  same  error  committed  by  the  growers  in 
producing  for  quantity  instead  of  for  quality  also  prevailed  in  the  cigar 
factories.  Barely  trained  apprentice  cigar  makers  were  employed  in 
the  manufacture  of  export  cigars.  The  factories  were  kept  working 
even  nights.  Colors  cannot  be  easily  distinguished  in  their  true  shades 
by  artificial  light.  Philippine  manufacturers  did  not  realize  that  they 
were  dealing  with  shrewd  American  business  men.  Neither  did  they 
realize  that  the  production  and  manufacture  of  tobacco  is  also  one  of 
the  greatest  American  industries.  No  attempt  was  made  to  distribute 
Philippine  cigars  uniformly  throughout  the  United  States,  though  it  is 
really  no  air  castle  to  suppose  that  out  of  every  1,000  American  smokers 
it  is  possible  to  find  at  least  20  who  either  already  like  the  mild  aroma 
of  Philippine  tobacco  or  who  would  learn  to  like  it  had  they  but  a 
chance  to  get  the  cigars.  Our  manufacturers  just  turned  their  cigars 
loose.  They  did  not  stop  to  think  that  many  of  those  who  formed  the 
vanguard  of  American  importers  were  not  as  friendly  to  the  incoming 
of  Philippine  tobacco  as  they  seemed.  Manila  cigars  were  sold  at  a 
nickel,  in  many  cases  even  at  a  loss,  in  an  effort  to  make  the  American 
smoking  public  believe  that  Manila  cigars  are  of  cheap  stuff.  Smaller 
importers  of  good  faith,  not  being  able  to  stand  against  cut  prices  of 
the  bigger  importers,  had  to  cease  handling  Manila  cigars.  Another 
peculiar  fact  that  contributed  to  the  failure  of  Manila  cigars  imme- 
diately following  the  passing  of  the  Payne  Tariff  Law  was  the  inability 
of  Manila  manufacturers  to  supply  the  American  public  with  large 
stocks.  These  circumstances  resulted  in  substitution  on  the  part  of 
some  American  jobbers,  cheap  and  low-grade  American  cigars  being 
labeled  as  "  best  Manilas  "  after  the  stock  of  Manilas  became  exhausted. 

The  Insular  Government,  seeing  the  deplorable  condition  of  the 
trade  after  six  years  of  such  competition,  enacted  a  law  in  February, 
1916,  "  to  improve  the  methods  of  production  and  the  quality  of  tobacco 
in  the  Philippines  and  to  develop  the  export  trade  therein."  This  law 
proved  to  be  of  inestimable  value  to  the  development  of  the  Philippine 
tobacco  trade,  by  establishing  a  system  of  inspection  for  leaf  and  manu- 
factured tobacco  and  at  the  same  time  carrying  on  an  advertising  cam- 
paign intended  to  bring  home  to  the  American  importer  the  good 
quality  of  Philippine  tobacco. 

For  the  purpose  of  furthering  the  advertising  campaign,  it  was 
found  practicable  to  entrust  this  work  to  Mr.  C.  A.  Bond,  who  is  well 
known  to  the  tobacco  trade  and  who  has  had  experience  in  the  Philip- 
pines, having  been  at  one  time  a  ^newspaper  man  in  Manila.  Since  the 
passage  of  that  act,  the  trade  has  progressed  apace,  the  exportation  to 
the  United  States  rising  gradually  from  114,006,745  cigars  in  1916  to 
216,124,310  in  1917,  and  264,871,253  in  1918.    This  increase  is  a  happy 


19 

omen  that  the  Manila  cigar  is  gaining  popularity  in  the  United  States 
market. 

Prior  to  1916  the  amount  of  Philippine  leaf  tobacco  exported  to  the 
United  States  was  negligible,  but  during  1916  this  export  item  increased 
to  almost  twelve  times  the  amount  of  1915  and  more  than  twenty  times 
that  of  1914.  In  1918  leaf  exportations  to  the  United  States  reached 
2,957,264  kilos,  an  amount  representing  a  decrease  in  comparison  with 
3,283,264  kilos  exported  during  the  previous  year.  The  greater  number 
of  cigars  exported  and  the  limited  quantity  of  the  1916  and  1917  crops 
were  responsible  for  this  condition. 

The  actual  exportation  of  Philippine  leaf  tobacco  to  the  United 
States  has  been  as  follows  during  recent  years :  Kilos 

1914 20,683 

1915 39,637 

1916 633,771 

1917 3,283,607 

1918 2,957,264 

The  European  War  contributed  to  the  increased  demand  for  Manila 
cigars  on  account  of  the  large  supplies  of  tobacco  products  sent  to 
Europe  and  because  of  the  fact  that  a  large  number  of  hands  formerly 
engaged  in  the  tobacco  factories  in  the  United  States  had  to  be  diverted 
to  war  activities.  The  cigar  that  has  appealed  most  to  the  American 
smoking  public  is  the  5-cent  Manila. 

During  1918  several  complaints  were  received  that  musty  cigars 
were  arriving  in  the  United  States,  and  in  most  cases  the  blame  has 
been  placed  on  both  the  manufacturer  and  the  Government.  Act  2613, 
although  guaranteeing  the  tobacco  products  exported  to  the  United 
States,  sets  limitation  on  this  guarantee.  These  complaints,  however, 
need  investigation,  considering  the  fact  that  the  average  price  per 
thousand  paid  for  Manila  cigars  in  1918  was  43.68  pesos,  as  com- 
pared with  38.25  pesos  paid  in  1917. 

Through  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture  the  Government  is  determined  to 
procure  greater  production  and  higher  quality  of  tobacco.  Curing  under 
proper  methods  is  required  by  law.  A  five-year  testing  project  has 
been  undertaken  in  Isabela  Province,  with  the  following  aims  in  view : 

1.  Isolation  by  selection  of  the  highest  grade  strains  from  local 

varieties. 

2.  To  obtain,  by  constant  testing,  strains  of  the  highest  heredi- 

tary value. 

3.  Distribution  of  selected  seed. 

4.  Production  of  standard  wrapper  tobacco  by : 

a.  Seed  selection. 

b.  Cultural  methods. 

c.  Hybridization 

d.  Acclimatization  of  foreign  wrapper  tobacco. 


20 

5.  Constant  testing  of  wrapper  strains. 

6.  Study  and  control  of  tobacco  pests. 

7.  Curing  experiments. 

8.  Miscellaneous  experiments. 

9.  Extension  work  with  the  co-operation  of  the  tobacco  in- 

spectors on  behalf  of  wrapper  tobacco  production. 

While  the  work  at  the  Tobacco  Experiment  Station  is  progressing, 
the  farmers  are  being  instructed,  and  expert  seed  selection  and  other 
approved  cultural  methods  are  being  demonstrated  to  them  by  specially 
qualified  Government  tobacco  inspectors.  As  the  results  of  investiga- 
tions and  the  propaganda  campaign  being  undertaken  by  the  Bureau 
of  Agriculture,  Nueva  V.izcaya,  a  province  heretofore  growing  hardly 
any  tobacco,  was  found  to  possess  soils  and  a  climate  similar  to  those 
of  Isabela,  and  consequently  was  induced  to  grow  tobacco  on  a  large 
scale,  so  that  now  it  is  one  of  only  three  provinces  in  the  islands  that 
produces  the  tobacco  from  which  standard  brands  of  cigars  are  exclu- 
sively made.  It  is  expected  that  other  regions  suitable  for  the  growing 
of  superior  tobacco  will  be  located.  Although  tobacco  is  grown  prac- 
tically in  every  region  of  the  Philippines,  the  Government  is  determined 
to  limit  the  manufacture  of  standard  cigars  from  leaves  produced  only 
in  regions  peculiarly  suited  for  the  production  of  cigar  tobacco.  The 
Cagayan  Valley  is  the  Vuelta  Abajo  of  the  Philippines.  Evidence  of 
the  justice  of  this  claim  lies  in  the  fact  that  by  many  the  present 
product  is  considered  so  good  as  to  be  unsurpassed  in  spite  of  prevail- 
ing haphazard  methods. 

The  standard  Manila  smoke  guaranteed  by  the  Government  is  noted 
for  its  mild,  free-burning  and  aromatic  quality.  The  naturally  agree- 
able flavor  of  Philippine  tobacco  makes  the  employment  of  chemists  in 
the  Manila  tobacco  factories  unnecessary.  In  America  thousands  and 
thousands  of  smokers  now  believe  that  "  Manila  cigars  are  selling  on 
their  merits,  and  not  on  their  prices."  The  Philippine  Government 
affixes  to  each  box  of  Manila  cigars  sent  to  the  United  States  an  official 
inspection  label  certifying  that  the  cigars  are  made  by  the  Spanish 
hand  process,  packed  under  modern  sanitary  conditions,  under  the 
supervision  of  competent  Government  officials,  and  that  upon  arrival  in 
the  United  States  every  box  of  "  Manilas  "  is  in  proper  condition. 

There  are  splendid  opportunities  for  the  investment  of  capital  in 
tobacco  growing  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  The  Cagayan  Valley,  which 
is  the  region  where  the  finest  tobacco  is  grown,  is  unequaled  for  its 
natural  advantages.  This  valley  lies  between  two  mountain  ranges 
situated  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Island  of  Luzon  and  contains  a 
tobacco  belt  about  150  miles  long  and  varying  width  up  to  10  miles. 


21 

The  valley  is  inundated  annually  to  a  depth  of  from  5  to  40  feet,  and 
there  is  a  consequent  annual  deposit  of  silt  amounting  to  several  inches 
in  thickness.  Under  these  conditions,  artificial  fertilizers  are  unneces- 
sary and  so  unknown  in  this  district.  Many  thousands  of  acres  of 
choice  tobacco  land  are  lying  idle  and  unoccupied  on  the  banks  of  this 
"  Nile  of  the  Philippines."  These  lands  are  a  part  of  the  public  domain 
and  are  open  to  occupancy  under  the  homestead  law  or  by  purchase. 
By  purchase  the  price  would  be  about  $2  per  acre,  and  this  nominal 
price  may  be  paid  in  installments,  a  total  period  of  five  years  being 
allowed.  Corporations  are  limited  to  2,500  acres  of  this  land.  Outside 
of  some  ten  or  twelve  large  plantations,  practically  the  entire  tobacco 
crop  in  the  Cagayan  Valley  is  grown  by  the  28,000  small  planters  having 
holdings  of  three  or  four  acres. 

Labor  in  the  valley  is  scarce,  but  the  Government  is  ready  to  aid 
through  its  established  agencies  in  securing  laborers  from  the  thickly- 
populated  districts  on  a  contract  basis.  If  the  owner  of  a  large  planta- 
tion will  have  proper  regard  for  the  social  and  hygienic  welfare  of  his 
laborers  and  treat  them  with  fairness  in  their  business  relations,  in  a 
short  time  a  loyal  and  intelligent  force  can  be  trained  in  the  proper 
methods  of  cultivation.  Experiments  with  such  methods  have  shown 
an  increased  yield  of  such  superior  quality  that  it  is  certain  that  if  some 
of  the  attention  and  care  which  is  bestowed  upon  leaf  tobacco  in  other 
countries  were  bestowed  upon  Philippine  leaf,  the  Cagayan  Valley 
could  produce  cigar  filler  the  equal  of  Havana  in  popular  estimation, 
and  wrapper  leaf  the  equal  of  the  famous  Sumatra.  To-day  there  is 
hardly  sufficient  leaf  of  the  needed  quality  for  the  local  markets.  In 
1916  the  10,000,000  Filipinos  who  inhabit  the  Archipelago  smoked  some 
80,500,000  tax-paid  cigars  and  4,135,000,000  cigarettes.  Every  year 
since  1904,  when  the  Internal  Revenue  Law  took  effect,  the  consump- 
tion has  greatly  increased.  Not  only  is  there  the  ever-growing  domestic 
market  to  be  considered;  there  is  the  European  market,  which  in  the 
past  has  been  a  steady  purchaser  of  large  quantities  of  leaf,  and  in  spite 
of  the  war  has  absorbed  a  quantity  only  slightly  less  than  in  years 
before.  Now  that  peace  has  come,  a  substantial  increase  in  the 
European  demand  is  to  be  reasonably  expected. 

The  annual  acreage  and  production  of  tobacco  are  given  below  from 
figures  prepared  by  the  Division  of  Farm  Statistics  of  the  Bureau  of 
Agriculture : 

Acres.  Pounds. 

1912 ...: 140,948  65,219,646 

1913 , . .  170,477  101,545,657 

1914 150,549  102,809,218 

1915 131,809  84,264,780 

1916 144,574  90,506,183 

1917 152,549  107,642,966 

1918 193,832  135,421,708 


22 

COCONUT  GROWING  AND  COPRA. 

By  M.  J.  de  la  Rama, 
Manager,  Philippine  Commercial  Agency,  San  Francisco,  California. 

The  coconut  tree  is  a  palm  of  the  species  "  cocos  nucifera."  It 
thrives  in  almost  all  tropical  lands,  chiefly  the  Philippine  Islands,  Dutch 
East  Indies,  Straits  Settlements,  Ceylon  and  South  Sea  Islands. 

There  are  approximately  70,000,000  coconut  trees  in  the  Philippine 
Islands,  about  40,000,000  of  which  are  bearing  trees,  producing  nearly 
1,000,000,000  nuts  per  annum.  Approximately  900,000,000  of  these 
nuts  are  made  into  copra. 

The  total  acreage  devoted  to  coconuts  is  about  750,000.  This  area 
is  only  a  slight  fraction  of  the  total  land  adapted  to  coconut  growing. 

Of  the  total  area  of  120,000  square  miles  of  the  Philippine  Archi- 
pelago, only  14,000  square  miles  are  to-day  planted  to  crops  or  other- 
wise cultivated.  This  vast  extension  of  uncultivated  land  will  give  an 
idea  of  the  tremendous  opportunities  for  the  establishment  of  coconut 
plantations,  which  can  be  started  almost  anywhere  in  these  rich  tropical 
islands. 

Excellent  land  under  the  public  domain  and  specially  adapted  to 
coconut  growing  can  be  leased  or  purchased  from  the  Government  at 
nominal  prices.  The  clearing  and  planting  of  the  land  does  not  require 
a  great  amount  of  initial  capital. 

No  other  crop  produced  by  man  is  reaped  with  more  certainty  and 
marketed  with  less  labor  and  expense  after  the  initial  cost  has  been 
incurred.  Because  of  the  permanency  of  the  trees  when  planted  in  a 
region  free  from  typhoons  a  coconut. in  bearing  constitutes  a  crop 
virtually  as  constant  and  undying  as  the  earth  on  which  it  stands. 

The  tree  gets  into  bearing  after  five  or  six  years  after  planting,  and 
constantly  thereafter  for  practically  "  all  time  to  come." 

The  trees  give  best  results  when  planted  about  125  to  the  hectare, 
or  50  to  the  acre.  They  may  be  relied  on  with  reasonable  assurance  to 
produce  in  the  fifth  year  ten  nuts  each,  worth,  at  a  conservative  esti- 
mate, about  2  cents  per  nut,  or  a  return  of  about  $10  per  acre.  The 
sixth  year  the  trees  should  produce  about  40  nuts  each;  the  seventh 
year  about  60  nuts  each ;  the  eighth  year  about  80  nuts  each ;  and  the 
ninth  year  about  100  nuts  each.  The  trees  reach  their  most  productive 
period  at  about  twenty  years  after  planting,  and  this  period  lasts  until 
about  the  fortieth  year.  During  this  period  from  125  to  150  nuts  may 
be  expected  from  each  tree  as  an  average  production.  Many  trees 
under  favorable  conditions  produce,  during  this  period,  200  to  300  nuts 
per  year.  The  record  yield  is  said  to  be  470  nuts  from  one  tree  in  a 
year.  There  is  said  to  be  but  slight  diminution  in  the  yield  of  a  mature 
tree  until  it  is  almost  a  hundred  years  old. 


23 

The  planter  is  not  compelled  to  wait  for  returns  on  his  investments 
until  his  coconut  trees  begin  to  produce,  as  he  can  raise  corn,  beans, 
peanuts  or  hemp  on  the  same  land  on  which  his  young  coconut  plants 
are  growing. 

The  coconut  is  a  plant  of  many  uses.  The  trunk  is  sometimes  used 
as  pillars  or  posts  of  Philippine  houses.  The  ribs  of  the  leaves  are  used 
for  making  brooms.  The  fibrous  outside  shell  of  the  nut  or  coir  is 
chiefly  used  for  household  fuel  and  sometimes  in  the  manufacture  of 
rope,  mats,  ship  caulking  materials,  etc.  The  hard  shell  of  the  nut  was 
found  to  be  valuable  during  the  war  as  a  source  of  a  chemical  substance 
which  was  used  in  making  gas  masks.  These  shells  are  often  used  to 
make  drinking  cups  and  similar  utensils.  The  sap  of  the  bud  is  a  good 
source  of  alcohol. 

Copra. 

Copra  is  the  dried  meat  of  the  coconut  and  is  prepared  for  the 
purpose  of  producing  coconut  oil. 

To  prepare  copra,  the  coconut  is  split  and  the  meat  partially  dried 
while  in  the  shell ;  the  meat  is  then  removed  and  the  drying  completed. 
Drying  is  done  either  by  the  sun  or  artificially. 

Classes  and  Output  of  Copra. 

There  are  three  classes  of  copra.  "  Sun-dried,"  as  its  name  indi- 
cates, has  been  thoroughly  dried  in  the  sun.  This  is  the  best  grade. 
"  Fair  merchantable  Manila  "  is  copra  which  was  partially  or  imper- 
fectly dried  when  received  in  Manila  and  which  has  been  re-dried. 
Low-grade  copra  is  that  which  is  smoked  and  scorched  and  is  rancid. 

The  modern  method  of  drying  copra  is  by  means  of  the  copra 
dryers,  which  do  not  expose  it  to  dampness  or  smoke. 

The  Philippines  produce  one-third  of  the  world's  output  of  copra. 
Up  to  the  year  1918  almost  all  of  the  copra  produced  was  exported. 
In  1919  the  quantity  of  copra  exported  was  only  half  of  that  of  1918. 
In  1919  the  Islands  exported  $4,400,000  worth  of  copra,  but  imported 
$3,200,000  value  from  other  countries.  The  establishment  during  the 
latter  half  of  1918  of  oil  mills  absorbed  the  greater  part  of  the  copra 
produced  locally. 

Before  the  year  1918  copra  was  exported  mainly  to  the  United 
States  and  France,  where  it  is  crushed  and  manufactured  into  oil. 
The  general  scarcity  of  tonnage  caused  by  the  war  affected  the  exporta- 
tion of  copra,  and  it  was  found  much  more  profitable  to  establish  oil 
mills  in  the  Philippines  and  export  the  finished  product  instead  of  the 
raw  material. 

Copra  is  a  bulky  product,  while  oil  is  heavy  and  compact  and  is 
much  more  handy  to  transport.    For  instance,  a  vessel  loaded  with  ten 


24 

thousand  tons  of  copra  will  supply  the  world  with  about  six  thousand 
tons  of  coconut  oil,  but  loaded  with  oil  itself,  that  same  vessel  will  take 
away  some  sixteen  thousand  tons.  The  saving,  therefore,  in  freight  is 
tremendous. 

An  enormous  increase  in  the  demand  for  vegetable  oil  caused  by  the 
depletion  of  the  war  supply  of  animal  fats  raised  prices  to  unprece- 
dented figures. 

During  the  war  coconut  oil  was  used  in  making  glycerine,  which 
entered  into  the  manufacture  of  explosives.  Coconut  oil  is  now  used 
for  butter  substitutes,  laundry  and  toilet  soap,  vegetable  lard,  salad 
oil,  etc. 

Copra  Cake  and  Coconut  Oil. 

Copra  cake  is  the  meat  of  the  coconut  after  the  oil  has  been  expelled. 
It  is  used  for  feed  of  cattle,  poultry  and  hogs.  Also  as  fuel  and 
fertilizer. 

There  are  now  in  operation  in  the  Philippines  about  forty  oil  mills, 
with  a  daily  capacity  of  about  two  thousand  tons  of  oil. 

The  greater  part  of  the  oil  produced  in  the  Philippines  enters  the 
United  States  in  the  Pacific  Ports,  especially  San  Francisco.  There  are 
extensive  storage  facilities  along  the  Pacific  Coast  at  San  Francisco, 
Seattle  and  Portland. 

Great  as  has  been  the  development  of  the  industry  during  the  past 
three  years,  the  Philippines  are  to-day  only  at  the  threshold  of  her 
economic  development.  Coconut  oil  has  come  to  stay  in  the  world's 
markets.  It  is  fast  replacing  animal  fats  and  even  other  vegetable  oils. 
The  uses  to  which  it  can  be  put  are  increasing  every  day.  With 
millions  of  acres  of  idle  lands  specially  suited  to  coconuts  in  the  Philip- 
pines, this  rich  tropical  Archipelago  will  always  lead  the  world  in  the 
production  of  this  commodity. 

The  investor's  opportunities  in  the  coconut  industry  are  in  the 
establishment  of  coconut  plantations  rather  than  in  the  manufacture  of 
coconut  oil.  There  are  now  more  oil  mills  than  copra  to  be  had,  with 
the  result  that  keen  competition  has  caused  the  prices  of  copra  to  rise 
to  unprecedented  heights.  As  it  takes  at  least  six  years  for  the  coconut 
to  get  into  bearing,  the  supply  of  copra  cannot  be  immediately  increased 
to  cope  with  the  increased  demand.  The  small  investor  can  purchase 
a  piece  of  land  in  the  Philippines,  start  a  coconut  grove,  and  after  six 
years  he  will  be  assured  of  good  returns  which  will  increase  year  after 
year.  Due  to  the  permanency  of  the  crop  and  the  very  little  amount  of 
care  it  demands,  the  investor  is  assured  a  good  income  during  his  life- 
time and  that  of  his  grandchildren  and  great  grandchildren. 


25 

ESTIMATE  FOR  DEVELOPMENT  OF  2,500-ACRES  COCONUT 
PLANTATION,  UTILIZING  HEMP  CULTIVATION  TO 
FINANCE  COCONUT'S  DEVELOPMENT  IN  DAVAO, 
COTABATO,  LANAO  OR  ZAMBOANGA  PROVINCES. 

By  Lt.  Col.  H.  F.  Cameron, 
Engineers  Corps,  U.  S.  Army. 

The  essentials  for  a  successful  coconut  plantation  as  pertains  to . 
maximum  bearing  are  as  follows : 

(a)  Well  drained  soil  with  water  table  near  the  surface. 
Low-lying  land  (over  100  feet  above  sea  level  to  be  avoided), 
near  ocean. 

(b)  Irrigation  to  carry  tree  production  through  droughts 
and  to  increase  number  and  quality  of  nuts. 

(c)  Freedom  from  winds  which  tear  the  flowers,  nuts  and 
even  fronds  from  the  trees  in  latitudes  above  8  degrees. 

(d)  Protection  from  wild  hogs,  rhinoceros  beetles  and  bud 
rot. 

(e)  Dependable  labor. 

(f)  Well-distributed  rainfall. 

(g)  Temperature  of  70  degrees  Fahrenheit  and  over, 
(h)   Good  transportation  facilities. 

(i)   Efficient  management. 

All  these  necessary  economic  factors  to  success  prevail  except  b,  d, 
h  and  i,  which  are  dependent  upon  the  management  and  his  backing. 

The  uses  of  coconut  oil  and  its  by-product,  the  meal  cake,  are 
increasing  rapidly. 

A  careful  research  through  the  library  and  files  of  the  Department 
of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  Washington,  D.  C,  in  addition  to 
personal  investigations  made  by  the  writer  in  the  West  Indies,  Hawaii, 
Borneo  and  all  over  the  Philippine  Islands,  failed  to  disclose  any 
tropical  countries  in  the  world  where  such  extraordinary  production 
results  obtained  as  those  in  the  above  named  provinces  of  the  Philip- 
pines, All  statistical  tabulations  show  that  in  tree  production  the 
Philippines  rank  first,  with  an  average  of  90  nuts  per  tree  year.  Eight 
year  old  trees  in  the  irrigated  section  of  a  hemp  plantation,  in  which 
the  writer  is  interested,  have  a  record  of  180  nuts  a  year — one  mile 
from  sea  water,  30  feet  above  sea  level,  a  15-foot  alluvial  soil  on  a 
clay  base,  and  having  full  advantage  of  rain  and  irrigation  moisture. 

The  estimated  number  of  nuts  to  make  a  picul  (137^  lbs.)  of 
coprax  vary  from  175  in  Davao  (Mrs.  Burchfield's  record),  200  at 
San  Ramon  Penal  Colony  (Coconuts — The  Consuls  of  the  Pacific),  to 
300  to  400  in  Laguna  and  Tayabas  Provinces,  Philippines. 


26 

Manila  hemp  fibre  can  be  grown  nowhere  else  in  the  world.  It  is 
a  staple  article  of  commerce.  Its  only  known  enemies  are  drought, 
wind  and  wild  pigs  or  deer.  These  losses  by  wind  or  typhoon  north 
of  these  areas  are  an  annual  occurrence — but  not  here';  the  drought 
insurance  necessitates  irrigation,  and  the  losses  by  animals  can  be  pre- 
vented by  fencing.  Labor  for  stripping  abaca  is  a  prime  necessity,  but 
in  a  development  of  this  nature  the  supply  secured  for  the  preliminary 
development  can  easily  be  converted  to  stripping  as  needed.  Irrigated 
hemp  reaches  stripping  age  inside  two  years  and  will  produce  15  to  20 
piculs  of  fibre  a  year  per  acre. 

The  procedure  to  develop  2,500  acres  of  coconuts  is  for  the  seed 
coconut  beds  to  be  started  while  hemp  suckers  are  being  planted.  The 
coconuts  are  planted  on  30-foot  centers  while  the  hemp  is  planted  in 
east  and  west  lines — to  permit  the  sun  to  have  full  play — 24  and  6  foot 
centers  alternately  north  and  south  and  8-foot  centers  east  and  west. 
By  this  method  the  maximum  of  400  hills  of  hemp  and  50  coconut 
trees  per  acre  will  result.  The  hemp  production  begins  at  eighteen 
months  after  planting,  while  coconuts  begin  at  the  fifth  year,  the  hemp 
thinning  out  as  coconuts  age. 

The  estimated  unit  (2,500  acres)  development  cost  and  returns  out- 
lined is  taken  from  actual  records  in  Davao  Province  of  present-day 
conditions.  To  be  conservative,  coconut  trees  are  assumed  to  produce 
90  nuts  a  year,  or  one-third  of  a  picul  of  coprax  a  tree  per  year  (16 
piculs  a  year  an  acre),  while  hemp  is  estimated  at  15  piculs  per  acre  a 
year — this  for  irrigated  areas  which  insure  regular  production.  Coprax 
market  value  is  assumed  at  $5,  though  it  seldom  reaches  the  low  level, 
while  hemp  market  value  is  assumed  at  $15  for  Davao  grades  (our 
prices  averaged  $37.75  in  1917,  $25  in  1918  and  $21  for  the  first  quarter 
of  1919),  and  interest  on  money  invested  at  6  per  cent.  The  profit 
values  at  these  figures  are  $3  a  picul  (a  dollar  a  tree  a  year)  for  coprax 
and  $3  a  picul  for  hemp. 

The  actual  plantation  cost  to  harvest  and  market,  including  over- 
head, of  the  hemp  (AA  and  BB  grades  for  Japanese  trade)  on  a 
100,000  hill  hemp  plantation  in  Davao  Province  is  $12  a  picul,  while  to 
harvest  and  market  coprax  is  $2  a  picul  on  a  small  plantation  but 
cheaper  on  a  large,  modern-equipped  plantation. 

This  2,500  acres  that  will  be  developed  in  three  years — 1,000  acres 
first  year  and  750  each  of  the  next  two  following  years  is  purchased 
public  land. 

FIRST  YEAR. 

Debit.  Credit. 

First  payment  on  2,500  acres  of  land  at  $2 $1,000  00 

Clearing,  plowing,  etc.,  1,000  acres  at  $2 2,000  00 

Purchase  of  50,000  coconut  seed  at  $0.06 3,000  00 

Purchase  of  400,000  hemp  seed  at  $10  M 4,000  00 

Planting  of  50,000  coconuts 250  00 


27 

Debit.  Credit. 

Planting  of  400,000  hemp $1,200  00 

Fencing  1,000  acres  at  $3 \  3,000  00 

Tools   and  animals 10,000  00 

Superintendence  and   Administration 20,000  00 

Superintendent    $8,000  00 

Three  Assistants  at  $1,800 5,400  00 

Cashier  and  Bookkeeper 2,400  00 

Office  force  and  stationery 2,500  00 

18,300  00 

Miscellaneous — Land  surveys,  roads,  wharf,  launch,  etc.  15,000  00 

Supply,  drainage,  doctor,  medicine,  insurance,  etc 15,000  00 

Irrigation    system    20,000  00 

Superintendent's   bungalow    2,000  00 

White  men's  quarters 1,500  00 

Laborers'  barracks,  first  year 1,500  00 

Office  building  and  store  with  stock 5,000  00 

Tool  and  cattle  shed 1,500  00 

Hospital  and  equipment 5,000  00 

Interest  on  $100,000  at  6  per  cent 6,000  00 

$100,250  00 
Revenues. 
Profit   from   store $10,000  00 

$100,250  00     $10,000  00 

Deduct  credit   10,000  00   == 


$90,250  00 


SECOND  YEAR. 

Second  payment  on  2,500  acres $1,000  00 

Clearing,  plowing,  etc.,  750  acres  at  $2 1,500  00 

Maintenance  of  1,000  acres  at  $1.25 1,250  00 

Purchase  of  35,000  coconut  seed  at  $0.06 2,100  00 

Purchase  of  300,000  hemp  seed  at  $10  M 3,000  00 

Planting  35,000  coconuts 175  00 

Planting  300,000  hemp 1,500  00 

Fencing  750  acres  at  $3. 2,250  00 

Tools  and  animals 5,000  00 

Superintendence  and  Administration 20,000  00 

Laborers'  barracks    1,500  00 

Irrigation   maintenance    3,000  00 

Miscellaneous    10,000  00 

Interest  on  $150,000  at  6  per  cent 9,000  00 

$61,275  00 
Revenues. 
Profit   from   store $10,000  00 

$61,275  00     $10,000  00 

Deduct  credit    10,000  00   — 

Cost  for  second  year $51,275  00 


THIRD  YEAR. 

Third  payment  on  2,500  acres $1,000  00 

Clearing,  plowing,  etc.,  750  acres  at  $2 1,500  00 

Maintenance  of  1,750  acres  at  $1.25 2,187  50 

Irrigation  maintenance  5,000  00 

Purchase,  planting,  etc.,  of  35,000  coconut  and  300,000 

hemp  seed    7,000  00 


28 

Debit.  Credit. 

Animals    and   tools $3,000  00 

Fencing  750  acres  at  $3 2,250  00 

Sorting  and  baling  sheds  for  hemp m     7,000  00 

Superintendence  and  Administration 20,000  00 

Miscellaneous 10,000  00 

Interest  on  $200,000  at  6  per  cent 12,000  00 

$71,937  50 
Revenues. 

Profit   from   store $10,000  00 

Profit  from  six  months'  hemp  cleaning,  one-half  (1,000 

acres— 15  piculs  X  $3) 22,500  00 

$71,937  50     $32,500  00 
Deduct  credit   : . .       32,500  00  —  = 

$39,437  50 

FOURTH  YEAR. 

Fourth  payment  on  2,500  acres $1,000  00 

Animals  and  tools 3,000  00 

Maintenance  of  2,500  acres  at  $1.25 3,125  00 

Irrigation   maintenance    6,000  00 

Superintendence  and   Administration 20,000  00 

Miscellaneous    10,000  00 

Interest  on  $200,000  at  6  per  cent 12,000  00 

$55,125  00 
Revenues. 

Profit   from   store $10,000  00 

Profit  from  1,750  acres  at  15  piculs  (26,250  piculs  at  $3)         78,750  00 

$88,750  00 

Deduct   expenditures    — 55,125  00 

Balance  (represents  17  per  cent,  on  $200,000  capitaliza- 
tion)          $33,625  00 

FIFTH  YEAR. 

Final   land   payment $1,000  00 

Maintenance,  2,500  acres 4,000  00 

Animals  and  tools 3,000  00 

Superintendence  and  Administration 25,000  00 

Irrigation  maintenance    6,000  00 

Miscellaneous    10,000  00 

Interest  on  $200,000  at  6  per  cent 12,000  00 

$61,000  00 
Revenues. 

Profit   from   store $10,000  00 

Hemp    from   2,500  acres   at    15   piculs— 37,500   piculs— 

37,500  piculs  at  $3 112,500  00 

$122,500  00 

Deduct  expenditures —61,000  00 

Balance    (represents    30   per   cent,    on   $200,000   invest- 
ment)          $61,500  00 


29 


SIXTH  YEAR. 

Debit.  Credit. 

Maintenance  of  2,500  acres  coconuts $5,000  00 

Irrigation   maintenance    6,000  00 

Superintendence  and   Administration 25,000  00 

Animals  and  tools 3,000  00 

One-half  cost  coprax  dryer  construction 10,000  00 

Miscellaneous 10,000  00 

Interest  on  $200,000  at  6  per  cent 12,000  00 

$71,000  00 
Revenues. 

Profit   from   store $10,000  00 

Hemp  from  2,500  acres  at  12  piculs  (hemp  thinning  out) 

—30,000— profit  at  $3  a  picul 90,000  00 

$100,000  00 

Deduct  expenditures 71,000  00 

Balance    (represents    15   per   cent,    on   $200,000    invest- 
ment)            $29,000  00 

SEVENTH  YEAR. 

Maintenance  of  2,500  acres  of  coconuts $5,000  00 

Irrigation   maintenance    6,000  00 

Animals  and  tools 3,000  00 

One-half  cost  on  coprax  dryer 10,000  00 

Superintendence  and  Administration 25,000  00 

Miscellaneous 10,000  00 

Interest  on  $200,000  at  6  per  cent 12,000  00 

$71,000  00 
Revenues. 

Profit   from   store $10,000  00 

Hemp  from  2,500  acres  at  9  piculs  per  hectare — 22,500 

piculs— profit,  22,500  at  $3 67,500  00 

Coprax  from  39,000  trees  at  one-third  picul  per  tree — 

16,333  piculs— profit,  16,333  piculs  at  $3 48,999  00 

$126,499  00 

Deduct  expenditures 71,000  00 

Balance   (represents  27  per  cent,  on  200,000  capitaliza- 
tion)     $55,499  00 

Note. — Would  advocate  developing  plantation  from  all  capital  rather  than 
part  income,  using  hemp  income  for  dividends  on  capitalization. 

Concluding  Remarks. 

The  plantation  in  full  bearing,  say  tenth  year,  will  have  120,000 
coconut  trees — 50  acres  reserved  for  roads,  buildings,  etc. 

The  annual  expenditure  now  should  not  exceed  $55,000,  while  the 
profit  should  at  a  minimum  be  $120,000  (trees  x  one-third  piculs  x  $3 
profit  per  picul) — $55,000  =  $65,500,  or  approximately  32  per  cent,  on 
a  $200,000  capitalization. 

This  profit  can  be  greatly  increased  by  an  oil  mill  installation  that 
would  provide  for  using  products  of  neighboring  planters  as  well,  and 
for  acting  as  purchaser  for  neighboring  small  planters. 


30 

The  actual  value  of  a  coconut  plantation  fully  developed  in  coconuts 
will  be  close  to  $750,000  judging  from  prices  that  the  Japanese  are 
paying  for  Davao  plantations. 

From  recent  "  British  and  Australian  Report  on  the  Trans-Pacific," 
the  following  data  on  Fiji  and  Solomon  Islands  was  obtained:  "  Trees 
(coconut)  bear  in  four  years  and  full  bearing  in  six  years,  and  produce 
eight  to  ten  hundredweight  (Spiculs)  of  coprax  a  year  per  acre.  The 
average  price  is  21  pounds  6  shillings  and  3  pence  per  1,000  kilograms 
(2,220  lbs.,  or  17  piculs),  with  a  profit  of  10  pounds  a  ton  (16  piculs)." 
This  is  slightly  over  $3  a  picul.  Common  estimates  in  the  Philippines 
are  by  trees,  each  tree  to  give  a  net  return  from  $1.50  to  $2.50  per  year. 

In  the  Solomon  Islands  swamp  ground  is  planted  with  ivory  nuts 
with  large  profit.  From  "  Coconuts — Consuls  of  the  Pacific,"  are 
found  statements  that  coconut  plantation  development  in  the  Federated 
Malay  States  costs  35  to  40  pounds  ($175  to  $200)  an  acre,  and  in  the 
West  Indies  about  $200.  Data  as  to  land  costs  and  as  to  class  of  land 
developed  do  not  permit  of  a  fair  comparison. 

PINEAPPLES. 

By  Helene  H.  Wilson, 

Publicity  Secretary,  Philippine  Commercial  Agencies. 

Philippine  pineapples  are  no  longer  an  experiment.     They  are  of 

good  size  and  sweeter  in  flavor  than  even  those  of  Hawaii,  when 

properly  cultivated. 

Land  Available. 

The  extensive  uncultivated  sugar  cane  lands  have  been  found  to 
be  well  adapted  to  pineapple  growing.  The  Government  of  the 
Philippines  leases  through  the  Bureau  of  Lands  parcels  of  100  hec- 
tares each  (2.471  acres)  at  a  cost  of  25  cents  per  hectare,  or  approxi- 
mately 12^  -per  acre  per  annum.  It  is  also  selling  land  at  from  $4 
to  $10  per  hectare. 

Preparing  the  Soil. 

Pineapples  require  a  sandy,  friable,  or  loamy  soil.  They  should 
never  be  planted  in  heavy  clay.  The  chocolate-colored  clay  soil  will 
grow  pineapples  but  the  expense  of  cultivation  is  much  higher  than 
when  planted  in  sandy  or  loamy  stretches. 

Before  planting  the  soil  should  be  plowed  at  least  8  inches  deep. 
This  operation  should  be  repeated  three  times,  and  the  area  should 
then  be  harrowed  twice. 

Moisture  Demanded  by  the  Plants. 

An  annual  rainfall  of  from  50  to  65  inches  evenly  distributed 
throughout  the  twelve  months  is  required  for  successful  growing  of 


31 

pineapples.  Where  this  amount  of  rainfall  is  not  recorded  the  land 
should  be  irrigated.  If  the  tract  is  adjacent  to  one  of  the  numerous 
rivers  or  creeks  this  is  not  a  difficult  proposition.  However,  in  many 
instances  it  will  be  necessary  to  sink  wells  for  irrigation  purposes. 
A  good  well  will  cost  on  the  average  of  $50. 

Varieties  of  Pineapples  Best  Suited  to  the  Philippines. 

The  Smooth  Cayenne  variety  has  proven  to  be  best  suited  to 
Philippine  soil  and  climatic  conditions  and  for  commercial  purposes. 

In  Mindanao  pineapple  planters,  even  with  slight  care,  and  none 
too  careful  cultivation,  produced  fruits  weighing  from  7^2  to  8 
pounds.  These  are  too  large  for  canning  purposes;  as  nothing  over 
a  4j^-pound  fruit  is  desired  for  canning  purposes. 

Other  varieties  which  have  been  successfully  tried  out  are  Queen, 
Cabezona,  Sugarloaf  and  Abaka. 

Methods  of  Cultivation. 

The  use  of  tractors  for  cultivation,  as  well  as  preparation  of  the 
soil,  is  advocated.  A  12  H.  P.  tractor  is  well  adapted  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  soil  and  a  small  motor  plow  of  from  one  to  two  H.  P.  is 
especially  suitable  for  cultivation,  and  also  for  making  furrows  where 
irrigation  is  necessary. 

Estimate  of  Cost  of  Establishment  of  a  20-Hectare  Pineapple 

plantation. 

Land  at  $10  per  hectare  (if  purchased) $200 

Preparation  at  $12.50  per  hectare 250 

Seeds 250 

Planting    500 

Cultivation  at  $5  per  hectare  (for  each  crop) 100 

Irrigation  at  $5  per  hectare  (for  each  crop) 100 

Total $1,400 

Labor. 

Laborers,  who  have  been  trained  in  the  pineapple  plantations  and 
canneries  of  Hawaii,  are  to  be  found  in  practically  all  sections  of  the 
Philippines.  These  men  know  their  business  and  with  competent 
supervision  may  be  depended  upon  to  do  their  part. 

Transportation  . 

The  Manila  Railway  Co.  offers  good  inducements  in  the  way  of 
rate  terms  to  pineapple  growers.     On  the  other  hand,  if  the  plantation 


32 

is  located  too  far  away  from  the  railroad  it  is  well  to  provide   for 
motor  transport. 

Markets. 

The  fruit  is  popular  in  the  local  markets,  also  in  China  and  Japan. 
A  large  importing  firm  of  San  Francisco  has  offered  to  act  as  agent 
for  all  Philippine  pineapple  products  shipped  into  the  United  States 
markets. 

The  Philippine  pineapples  have  less  acid  contents  and  require  less 
sugar  for  preservation  purposes  than  those  produced  in  other  tropical 
countries. 

PHILIPPINE    COFFEE. 

By  Fidel  A.  Reyes, 

Director,  Bureau  of  Commerce  and  Industry. 

The  rise  and  final  decline  of  the  coffee  industry  in  the  Philippine 
Islands  offers  a  very  interesting  study.  Prior  to  1890,  coffee  was  an 
important  product  of  several  provinces  of  the  Islands  and  constituted 
a  source  of  considerable  wealth  in  these  sections.  In  1890  and  for 
several  preceding  years  it  ranked  fourth  in  order  of  importance  among 
exports,  being  in  value  only  a  little  lower  than  tobacco  and  representing 
the  following  percentages  of  the  entire  export  values :  7.4  per  cent,  in 
1890,  7.1  in  1889,  7.7  in  1888,  8.3  in  1887  and  5.3  in  1886.  Subsequent 
to  1890,  due  to  the  devastation  of  coffee  plantations  by  insects  and 
diseases,  Philippine  production  rapidly  diminished  and  finally  almost 
ceased.  Exports  of  coffee  in  1893  were  only  one-half  of  1  per  cent,  of 
all  exports,  and  since  that  time  its  production  and  exportation  have 
been  merely  nominal.  At  present,  according  to  local  dealers,  there  is 
no  coffee  of  native  growth  on  the  Philippine  market.  In  what  wa>  at 
one  time  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  the  world's  supply,  only  imported 
green  and  prepared  coffees  are  found. 

It  was  in  south  central  Luzon  that  Philippine  coffee  was  produced 
in  greatest  quantities  prior  to  1891.  Plantations  covering  thousands  of 
acres  existed  in  the  Provinces  of  Laguna,  Batangas,  Cavite  and 
Tayabas,  and  some  in  Misamis  and  Cotabato,  in  Mindanao  Island ;  but 
Batangas,  in  the  central  part  of  Luzon,  led  all  the  provinces  in  this  crop. 
That  the  production  of  coffee  was  enormously  profitable  is  testified  to 
not  only  by  living  planters,  but  by  evidences  of  decadent  wealth  still 
visible  in  the  coffee-growing  centers.  Since  1891,  however,  its  history 
has  been  only  a  repetition  of  that  of  all  coffee-growing  countries  in 
the  Orient  invaded  by  the  leaf  spot  fungus  and  root  borer. 

Philippine  coffee  compares  well  with  that  of  Java  or  Martinique, 
and  there  are  certain   localities  capable  of  producing  coffee   which. 


33 

according  to  experts,  can  be  compared  only  to  that  of  Mocha.  The 
natural  conditions  of  the  Philippines  for  growing  this  crop  are  un- 
excelled elsewhere  in  the  world,  so  that  the  possibility  of  the  industry's 
re-establishment  offers  very  bright  prospects.  The  collapse  of  the  in- 
dustry was  not  the  fault  of  the  country,  but  of  those  engaged  in  its 
production.  If  the  producers  will  only  profit  by  the  example  of  Java, 
once  disease-resisting  varieties  have  been  planted,  undoubtedly  coffee 
will  resume  its  former  flourishing  state  in  the  Islands. 

Java  was.  until  1S80,  the  second  largest  coffee-producing  region  of 
the  world.  Then  came  the  same  disease  which  a  little  later  swept  the 
coffee  plantations  of  the  Philippines  as  if  by  a  fire.  The  production  of 
Java  coffee  was  reduced  from  a  surplus  of  1,000,000  pounds  to  barely 
enough  for  home  consumption. 

Dutch  planters  interested  in  the  maintenance  of  the  plantations 
brought  careful,  scientific  treatment  to  the  then  existing  conditions  of 
blight  and  insect  diseases.  They  have  so  far  re-established  their  coffee 
industry  that  it  now  produces  an  annual  output  of  nearly  40.000.000 
pounds  and  commands  the  highest  prices  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 
The  Dutch  producers  of  coffee  in  Java  solved  the  problem  by  planting 
disease-resisting  varieties,  largely  effecting  the  restoration  of  the  in- 
dustry without  recourse  to  other  more  difficult  attempts  to  hold  in  check 
the  disease  by  application  of  sprays. 

Similar  methods  applied  in  the  Philippines  would  result  in  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  coffee  industry  of  these  Islands.  The  large  areas 
known  to  be  available  for  successful  cultivation  suggest  that  with 
proper  attention  they  may  be  able  to  produce  a  considerable  share  of 
the  $75,000,000  or  $80,000,000  worth  of  coffee  imported  into  the  United 
States  each  year. 

The  following  table  gives  the  quantities  and  values  of  coffee  exports 
from  1880  to  1889,  the  period  when  this  product  was  sent  abroad  in 
considerable  amounts.  Values  are  given  in  pesos,  as  m  other  tables  in 
this  article : 

Year.  Kilos.  Value. 

1880 

1881 

1882 

1883 

18&4 

1885 

1886 

1887 

1888 

1889 


1.363,957 

"54 

KB£I7 

5.602^*1 

1.167,096 

hip 

1.284,405 

1.471.014 

5,4673a 

990.41c 

7.136.303 

2.098410 

fc3»£S3 

6310,635 

2A~ 

Since  1889  no  data  on  Philippine  coffee  production  have  been  avail- 
able except  for  the  years  1910  to  1912.  when  the  production  was  72.254 


34 

and  65,948  kilos,  respectively.  This  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that 
coffee  was  grown  principally  for  experimental  purposes — to  see  if  the 
plant  would  produce  berries  or  not — rather  than  for  commerce. 

The  amount  of  production  might  be  judged,  however,  from  the 
Bureau  of  Customs  reports,  which  show  that  enough  was  produced  to 
allow  some  margin  for  export,  although  this  so  declined  that  in  1916 
it  amounted  to  only  one  peso.  The  export  figures  for  the  fiscal  years 
ending  June  30,  from  1899  to  1912,  were  as  follows : 


Year. 


Kilos. 


Value. 


1899. 
1900. 
1901. 
1902. 
1903. 
1904. 
1905. 
1906. 
1907. 
1908. 
1909. 
1910. 
1911. 
1912. 


3,030 

1,454 

1,350 

738 

610 


24,102 

3,112 

13,232 

5,758 

2,756 

5,586 

5,104 

3,598 

3,184 

2,452 

1,138 

970 

672 

576 


On  the  other  hand,  the  importation  of  coffee  has  gradually  increased 
from  year  to  year,  until  in  1917,  1,406,612  kilos  were  brought  in,  at  a 
value  of  837,252  pesos.  The  total  value  of  coffee  imported  into  the 
Philippine  Islands  since  1899  amounts  to  6,866,793  pesos,  as  is  shown 
below : 


Year.  Quantity.  Value. 

1899 153,857  lbs.  68,430 

1900 .    24,358  lbs.  5,214 

1901 22,412  lbs.  6,550 

1902 998,198  lbs.  178,534 

1903 777,557  lbs.  123,472 

1904 396,857  lbs.  70,804 

1905 1,252,736  lbs.  229,156 

1906 1,057,884  lbs.  183,886 

1907 : 1,451,893  lbs.  278,800 

1908 1,726,088  lbs.  331,590 

1909 2,023,217  lbs.  402,180 

1910 2,632,041  lbs.  558,988 

1911 1,673,364  lbs.  408,406 

1912 2,234,594  lbs.  640,346 

1913 2,137,430  lbs.  673,249 

1914 1,106,621  kilos  694,768 

1915 879,194  kilos  484,781 

1916 1,104,413  kilos  690,332 

1917 1,406,612  kilos  837,252 

Total 6,866,893 


35 

Coffee  requires  a  climate  whose  average  temperature  ranges  be- 
tween 16  and  24  degrees  Centigrade,  standing  next  to  sugar  cane  in  its 
high  heat  requirement.  In  localities  having  both  heat  and  moisture,  its 
growth  is  stronger  and  more  luxuriant,  as  is  manifested  in  various 
ways.  In  very  hot  climates  the  coffee  plant  grows  well,  but  needs  the. 
shade  of  some  other  suitable  tree,  whereas  in  cooler  climates  it  thrives 
best  without  this  protection.  The  soil  most  suitable  for  its  cultivation 
is  one  that  is  light  and  moist,  but  not  marshy.  Reddish  soils,  somewhat 
sandy,  or  black  soils,  without  too  much  clay,  are  adaptable.  If  the  land 
is  virgin  soil  it  should  be  thoroughly  cleared,  plowed  deeply  two  or 
three  times,  and  then  harrowed;  if  the  land  is  old  it  should  be  well 
fertilized. 

Philippine  coffee,  though  stated  by  some  to  rival  in  quality  that  of 
Java,  does  not  seem  to  have  received  such  recognition  in  the  markets 
of  the  world.  Prices  during  the  years  of  highest  production  were  only 
about  7  cents  a  pound.  On  account  of  the  diminishing  production  of 
the  latter  80's,  however,  prices  showed  great  increases,  and  export 
values,  in  spite  of  reduced  quantities,  came  to  exceed  3,000,000  pesos, 
representing  an  importance  and  degree  of  prosperity  for  the  industry 
in  tragic  contrast  with  the  single  peso's  worth  of  coffee  exported 
in  1916. 

The  chief  consumers  of  Philippine  coffee  have  been  Spain,  the 
United  Kingdom  and  the  United  States,  together  with  a  confused  but 
important  China-Hong  Kong  trade.  Spain  has  been  a  consistent  con- 
sumer when  she  could  get  the  product,  and  in  the  period  of  greatest 
and  declining  production,  her  share  of  the  total  exports  ranged  from 
one-third  to  two-thirds.  The  China-Hong  Kong  trade  has  been  of 
about  equal  importance  to  that  of  Spain,  though  in  the  reduced  figures 
of  the  early  90's  it  amounted  only  to  about  half  the  Spanish.  The 
United  Kingdom  was  the  largest  consumer  of  Philippine  coffee  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  70's,  but  of  the  increased  quantities  of  the  80's 
she  took  smaller  shares.  The  United  States'  purchases  were  heaviest 
in  earlier  times,  reaching  1,359,707  pounds  in  1866.  After  1880,  in  but 
the  single  year  of  1883  did  they  amount  to  as  much  as  100,000  pounds. 
Of  the  insignificant  exports  since  American  occupation,  the  States  have 
taken  about  a  third,  China  being  the  largest  consistent  purchaser  of  the 
quinquennial  periods. 

Much  has  been  said  recently  of  the  revival  of  the  industry  and  of 
the  aid  of  an  American  import  duty  on  coffee  in  connection  with  free 
trade  for  the  Philippine  product  as  a  means  to  this  end.  The  disposi- 
tion in  certain  circles  is  to  treat  this  once  profitable  industry  as  an  asset 
in  the  plans  under  consideration  for  bringing  prosperity  to  the  Islands. 
It  may  be  so  regarded,  in  a  way,  for  the  rich  returns  of  the  coffee 
plantations  and  the  suitability  of  the  soil  and  climate  are  matters  of 


36 

record ;  but  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  coffee  plantations,  with  their 
rich  returns,  are  of  slow  growth,  requiring  outlays  of  capital  and  from 
six  to  twelve  years  of  patient  attention  and  waiting  for  the  first  realiza- 
tion of  these  returns.  Extensive  investments  of  this  character  do  not 
seem  probable,  with  the  memory  of  the  calamity  of  fifteen  years  ago 
still  fresh,  and  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  scientific  research 
seems  to  have  failed  thus  far  to  find  a  means  of  successfully  combating 
the  scourges  that  have  destroyed  the  industry.  Not  until  some  means 
are  found  to  prevent  the  repetition  of  that  disaster,  and  even  then,  not 
for  some  years,  does  it  seem  probable  that  there  will  be  any  large 
return  of  confidence  and  capital  to  the  planting  of  coffee  on  such  a 
scale  as  to  make  it  again  an  important  factor  in  the  agricultural  wealth 
of  the  Islands.  The  future  of  the  Philippine  coffee  industry  seems  for 
the  present  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  scientist  and  the  agricultural 
expert. 

Particular  interest  is  therefore  attached  to  the  importation  of  coffee 
seeds  into  the  Islands,  and  the  final  outcome  of  experimental  plantings 
under  the  control  of  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture  will  probably  have  a 
strong  bearing  on  the  future  of  this  great  potential  industry.  Circum- 
stances leading  up  to  the  inception  of  this  planting  enterprise  were  the 
outgrowth  of  petitions  addressed  to  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture,  request- 
ing that  efforts  be  made  to  re-establish  this  once  dominant  crop.  Pro- 
vincial nurseries  have  been  established  throughout  the  Islands,  the 
main  aim  of  which  is  to  show  the  superiority  of  the  "  robusta  "  and 
the  "  liberica  "  species,  both  blight  resistant,  over  the  "  arabica." 

With  the  successful  development  of  these  reconstructive  enterprises, 
and  considering  the  popularity  of  coffee  as  a  beverage  at  home  and 
abroad,  there  should  be  little  doubt  that  the  industry  will  some  time 
resume  its  former  flourishing  state.  The  following  statistics  of  the 
consumption  of  coffee  in  the  leading  countries  in  1904  show  what  a 
vast  market  is  open  the  world  over  for  this  product.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  consumption  has  increased  rather  than  decreased  since  that  time : 

Pounds. 

United  States 960,879,000 

Germany 396,205,000 

France  167,552,000 

Belgium 125,411,000 

Austria-Hungary   . 108,687,000 

Holland   28,930,000 

United  Kingdom 28,783,000 

Canada 6,189,000 


37 

HEMP,  THE  PREMIERE  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  PHILIPPINES. 

By  Arsenio  N.  Luz. 

Hemp  is  considered  the  premiere  industry  of  the  Philippine  Isl- 
ands, not  only  because  it  occupies  the  front  rank  of  the  major  exports 
of  our  country,  but  also  because  nature  granted  us  through  climatic 
and  soil  conditions  the  natural  monopoly  over  hemp  or  "  abaca  "  grow- 
ing. 

Hemp  represents  millions  of  dollars  in  investment  and  revenue 
and  provides  a  living  for  two  million  Filipinos  or  nearly  one-quarter 
of  the  entire  population./  The  importance  of  this  industry  is  naturally 
measured  by  the  volume  of  production  and  export  and  to  this  end  we 
are  giving  the  official  statistics  showing  each  annual  production  by 
provinces  for  the  years  1910,  1911,  1912,  1913,  1914,  1915,  1916,  1917 
and  1918  on  page  38. 

XHemp  is  a  fibre  obtained  from  a  banana-like  plant  known  as 
"  abaca,"  which  grows  only  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  It  is  manu- 
factured into  high  grade  cordage  and  used  in  shipping  and  construc- 
tion operations  throughout  the  world. 

Practically  all  Manila  hemp  is  shipped  and  distributed  through  the 
New  York  and  London  markets/^  In  pre-war  times  40  per  cent,  went 
to  the  United  States,  40  per  cent,  to  the  United  Kingdom  and  20  per 
cent,  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  mostly  Japan.  War  conditions  dis- 
located these  percentages  and  during  the  year  1917  55  per  cent,  of  this 
Manila  fibre  was  exported  to  the  United  States,  34  per  cent,  to  the 
United  Kingdom  and  11  per  cent,  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 

^Previous  to  American  occupation,  the  entire  hemp  business  of  the 
Philippines  was  in  the  hands  of  a  few  Manila  firms,  almost  exclusively 
British.  During  the  past  20  years  American  and  Filipino  firms  have 
entered  the  market  and  now  control  one-third  of  the  hemp  business, 
dealing  principally  in  the  medium  and  higher  grades  ("  I  "  and  above) 
used  in  this  country.  British  firms  still  control  the  bulk  of  the  trade 
in  the  lower  grades  ("J  "  and  below)  used  in  the  British  and  Con- 
tinental markets./ 

Prior  to  the  war  demands  and  consumption  were  in  the  proportion 
of  40  per  cent,  of  the  higher  grades  and  60  per  cent,  of  the  lower. 
The  war  demand  stimulated  production  of  the  higher  grades  to  70 
per  cent,  of  the  American  and  30  per  cent,  of  the  British  grades  late 
in  1917. 

/It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  usages  of  Manila  hemp  have  multiplied 
and  quite  a  portion  of  this  fibre  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  clothes 
for  local  consumption,  hats  and  slippers,  only  to  mention  the  most 
important  industrial  uses  in  the  Island.  Braided  abaca  is  also  ex- 
ported, mainly  to  Japan  and  Europe,  to  be  converted  into  dry  goods. 


38 


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39 

The  standard  abaca  or  Manila  hemp  grades  are  divided  into  five 
groups  according  to  the  cleanings  of  the  fibre  as  follows: 

Group  I  includes  grades  A  to  S-3,  inclusive.  This  group  em- 
braces fibre  of  excellent  cleaning,  which  can  be  strictly  termed  as  pure 
fibre,  although  it  has  a  tendency  of  being  sometimes  slightly  strippy 
in  the  grades  E,  S-2  and  S-3. 

Group  II  includes  grades  F  to  H,  inclusive.  The  group  embraces 
fibre  of  good  cleaning,  which  is  slightly  strippy,  but  which  for  all 
practical  purposes  can  be  used  as  pure  fibre. 

Group  III  includes  grades  I  to  K,  inclusive.  This  group  embraces 
fibre  of  fair  cleaning,  and  which  is  distinctly  strippy,  and  consequently 
of  a  harsh  texture  and  "  bold  "  size. 

Group  IV  includes  grades  L  to  M,  inclusive.  This  group  embraces 
fibre  of  coarse  cleaning  or  coarse  strips. 

Group  V  includes  grades  DL  to  Y,  inclusive.  This  group  embraces 
woody  fibre  (DL  and  DM),  waste  fibre  (OO  and  T),  or  damaged 
fibre   (Y). 

The  percentage  of  hemp  in  the  total  exports  of  the  Philippine 
Islands  is  the  following: 


Year. 

Percentage. 

Value. 

1909 

48.38 

1*33,792,000 

1910 

14.55 

32,950,622 

1911 

32.31 

28,920,254 

1912 

14.19 

4,151,342 

1913 

44.21 

42,242,168 

1914 

39.42 

38,389,630 

1915 

39.65 

42,678,200 

1916 

38.17 

53,384,593 

1917 

48.96 

93,615,559 

1918 

43.04 

116,393,100 

1919 

42.45 

53,723,052 

The  decided  slump  of  the  hemp  market  for  this  year  was  due  to 
greater  degree  than  any  of  the  other  major  exports  of  the  Philippines 
to  the  sudden  termination  of  hostilities  in  1918.  It  was  also  due  to 
certain  business  manipulations  in  this  country  and  abroad.  Imme- 
diately after  the  signing  of  the  armistice  in  November,  1918,  certain 
New  York  brokers,  supposedly  acting  for  large  and  powerful  inter- 
ests in  the  background,  made  a  dead  set  to  break  the  prices  and  lower 
the  market  for  Manila  hemp.  Their  efforts,  however,  were  not  alto- 
gether especially  directed  against  Manila  hemp,  but  it  was  necessary 
to  break  the  market  for  this  article  in  order  to  force  down  the  price 
of  Mexican  sisal,  which  is  so  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
binder  twine.  Through  a  long  series  of  wily  manipulations,  sisal 
has  been  forced  down  from  19  cents  gold  per  pound  to  9  cents  gold 
per  pound.     On  account  of  these  manipulations  the  Yucatan   State 


40 

Agency  for  marketing  sisal  was  reported  to  be  in  bankruptcy  at  that 
time  with  unsold  stock  of  over  six  hundred  thousand  bales  left  on  its 
hands.  Manila  hemp  has,  of  course,  suffered,  but  much  of  the  loss 
suffered  by  Philippine  interests  is  attributed  in  a  great  measure  to 
the  unstability  of  the  trade  market  just  before  and  after  the  armistice 
was  signed,  some  shippers  having  had  to  pay  as  high  as  $17  per  bale 
from  Manila  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  while  others  were  able  to  obtain 
rates  almost  at  the  same  time  of  $2  per  bale.  This  wide  difference 
in  rates  had  a  demoralizing  effect  on  the  hemp  market,  enabling  as  it 
did  the  shipper  at  $2  per  bale  to  greatly  undersell  those  shippers  who 
paid  higher  rates. 

These  are  briefly  the  main  causes  of  the  slump  of  the  hemp  market 
during  last  year.  These  causes,  being  temporary  and  artificial,  are 
not  expected  to  continue  and  at  present  hemp  is  picking  up  again  and 
conditions  are  being  normalized. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  best  marine  rope  in  the  world  is 
that  made  of  Manila  hemp,  which  is  the  finest  fibre  for  this  purpose, 
both  in  point  of  tensile  strength  and  lengths  of  fibre.  Needless  to 
say,  the  demand  will  rapidly  be  increasing  year  by  year. 

The  opportunities  for  the  extension  of  the  abaca  industry  of  the 
Philippines  are  very  promising.  This  will  be  the  leading  Philippine 
export  industry  for  an  indefinite  period.  Improved  methods  of  cul- 
ture and  fibre  extraction,  which  are  now  beginning  to  be  put  in  use, 
will  largely  increase  the  production  of  fibre  on  some  of  the  land  already 
cultivated. 

Large  areas  now  being  deforested  are  in  every  way  suitable  for 
abaca  and  are  available  for  prospective  planters.  With  but  little  or 
no  danger  from  insect  or  plant  diseases  and  with  little  or  no  competi- 
tion from  other  countries,  abaca  is  an  imminently  safe  crop  and  affords 
one  of  the  most  profitable  branches  of  agriculture  in  the  Philippines. 


RICE. 

By  Adriano  Hernandez, 
Director,  Bureau  of  Agriculture,  Philippine  Islands. 

In  1915  the  Philippine  Islands  produced  more  than  8,000,000  sacks 
of  rice,  and  imported  less  than  3,000,000.  The  imports  came  from 
Saigon  and  went  chiefly  to  the  southern  portion  of  the  archipelago. 
In  1919  the  local  supply  from  the  1918  crop  approximated  16,000,000 
sacks  and  the  imports  more  than  2,000,000.  This  amount  was  not, 
however,  equal  to  the  total  consumption  of  1918,  which  was  two  sacks 


41 

per  capita,  or  slightly  in  excess  of  21,000,000  sacks.     The  area  culti- 
vated to  rice  is  3,420,350  acres. 

The  dual  problem  confronting  the  Islands  at  present  consists  in 
coping  with  increasing  per  capita  consumption  coupled  with  the  larger 
demand  due  to  growth  of  population,  and  in  producing  at  the  same  time 
sufficient  rice  to  take  the  place  of  decreased  importations  of  this  com- 
modity, which  have  now  fallen  off  owing  to  shortage  in  other  markets. 
The  per  capita  consumption  may  be  reduced  through  educating  the 
people  to  the  use  of  substitutes,  but  this,  like  the  building  of  Rome, 
can  not  be  done  in  a  day,  and  while  it  is  being  done  the  substitutes 
must  be  produced  in  large  quantities.  The  Bureau  of  Agriculture 
has  conducted  a  food  campaign  for  several  years  and  has  had  an  influ- 
ence, probably,  upon  the  production  of  corn  and  root  crops  which 
will  supplant  rice  in  the  population's  diet.  These  crops  are  being  pro- 
duced in  greater  abundance  than  ever  before,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
increased  prosperity  makes  it  possible  for  the  people  to  live  better 
than  they  did  formerly,  so  the  demand  for  rice  keeps  up  and  is  even 
advancing. 

The  only  possible  solution  lies  in  greater  production,  and,  fortu- 
nately, every  influence  touching  the  industry  is  favorable  to  this  pur- 
pose. Rice  growing  is  one  of  the  oldest  activities  of  the  Filipinos  and 
one  to  which  they  have  a  natural  inclination.  Lands  suitable  thereto 
are  fertilized  and  are  renewed  over  large  areas  every  year  by  deposits 
from  flood  waters.  Capital  available  for  agricultural  ventures  is  in- 
creasing in  amount,  and  the  low  price  prevailing  in  the  world's  markets 
for  certain  staple  crops  of  the  Islands  encourages  producers  of  these 
staples  to  curtail  their  production  and  to  give  more  attention  to  rice. 
Above  all,  large  areas  of  public  lands,  well  adapted  to  rice  culture,  are 
available,  either  for  leasing  or  for  homesteading. 

The  price  of  rice,  too,  though  much  lower  than  that  current  in 
Japan,  China  and  elsewhere,  is  still  very  favorable  and  will  probably 
be  guaranteed  by  the  Government  as  a  further  stimulus  to  production. 
When,  recently,  the  Saigon  market  was  cut  off  as  a  reliable  source  of 
supply,  the  Government  broke  the  rising  local  market  by  establishing  a 
maximum  price  and  followed  this  action  by  an  embargo  on  the  export 
of  existing  stocks  and  the  appointment  of  a  dictator,  the  Hon  Dionisio 
Jakosalem,  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Communications  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Philippine  Cabinet  and  Council  of  State.  The  consterna- 
tion of  the  dealers  and  producers  provoked  by  this  drastic  action  was 
expected  in  all  probability  to  be  met  with  a  guarantee  of  a  minimum 
price  for  rough  rice  at  harvest  time. 

The  greater  portion  of  rice  grown  in  the  Philippines  is  produced 
on  the  Island  of  Luzon,  the  chief  port  of  which  is  Manila,  the  capital 
and  metropolis  of  the  Archipelago.     Rice  is  grown  in  the  valleys  of 


42 

several  large  rivers  in  central  Luzon  and  is  transported  to  Manila 
both  by  railroad  and  water  routes,  the  latter  being  the  more  advantage- 
ous, though  not  available  to  many  production  points.  The  rice  is 
milled  either  at  primary  stations  or  at  Manila,  and  the  milling  is  done 
in  nearly  all  cases  by  the  use  of  modern  machinery.  Milling  and  dis- 
tribution are  largely  in  the  hands  of  Chinese  interests  financed  by 
British  capital,  the  usual  charge  for  the  former  operation  being  15 
cents  gold  per  sack. 

In  recent  years  threshing  machines  have  been  sucessfully  intro- 
duced, thus  turning  another  phase  of  the  industry  over  to  modern 
methods.  These  machines  are  widely  used  throughout  the  Luzon 
valley,  the  usual  rate  for  threshing  being  8  to  10  per  cent,  of  the  crop. 
Many  of  the  machines  are  owned  by  co-operative  associations ;  others 
by  millers,  and  sometimes  installed  at  the  mills;  and  still  others  by 
individual  producers.  They  work  without  difficulty,  but  their  use 
has  the  unfavorable  result  of  throwing  practically  the  entire  crop 
upon  the  market  within  a  period  of  a  few  weeks,  so  that  the  greater 
profits  are  not  made  by  actual  producers,  but  by  dealers  and  millers. 
The  price  falls  steadily  in  the  few  weeks  following  harvest;  mills  are 
glutted  and  means  of  traffic  congested.  At  this  unfavorable  time  the 
product  passes  out  of  the  producers'  hands.  After  the  glut  is  off  the 
market,  that  is,  after  the  transfer  of  ownership  to  dealers  and  millers, 
the  price  turns  upward,  and  various  influences  tend  to  keep  it  rising. 
Whereas  producers  make  a  small  profit  or  merely  cover  production 
cost,  dealers  and  millers  profit  generously.  Development  of  an  effect- 
ive warehouse  system  would  probably  go  far  toward  alleviation  of  the 
evils  of  the  present  practice. 

The  Bureau  of  Agriculture  is  bending  great  effort  toward  teaching 
better  husbandry  through  an  organization  of  farm  advisers  devoted 
to  this  purpose  and  by  means  of  a  division  which  is  organizing  rural 
credit  associations  among  the  growers  so  as  to  make  them  self  assisting 
and  independent  of  money  advances  from  buyers.  The  most  malevo- 
lent influence  on  the  industry  is  the  growers'  almost  universal  habit 
of  getting  advances  from  buyers  at  the  beginning  of  the  cropping  sea- 
son. This  obligates  them,  under  formal  contract,  to  sell  their  crop 
at  a  stipulated  period  and  often  at  a  stipulated  price,  fixed  low  enough 
to  guarantee  to  the  buyer  a  safe  margin. 

This  year  (this  article  was  written  late  in  1910)  as  a  step  in  its 
food  campaign,  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture  made  use  of  a  fund  of 
1,000,000  pesos  for  loans  to  rural  credit  associations  at  the  rate  of  6 
per  cent,  per  annum,  taking  joint  notes  of  members  of  the  associations 
as  security.  No  untoward  developments  occurred,  and  it  is  antici- 
pated that  the  Legislature  will  provide  a  similar  fund  for  the  year 
1920. 


43 

This  fund  particularly  aids  smaller  producers,  whose  lands  are 
for  the  most  part  not  under  registered  title  and  who,  therefore,  can 
not  deal  with  banks.  Large  planters  have  the  facilities  of  the  Philip- 
pine National  Bank  at  their  disposal.  No  small  part  of  the  doubled 
production  of  the  last  five  years  is  due  to  the  Government's  having 
made  it  easier  for  growers  to  obtain  funds  for  extension  of  their 
operations.  The  movement  has  not  gone  far  enough,  however;  it 
will  require  considerable  development  before  the  grower  will  be 
entirely  relieved  from  the  depredations  of  usurers  and  unprincipled 
middlemen. 

On  the  lowlands,  where  the  great  bulk  of  the  rice  of  the  Philippines 
is  grown,  field  machinery  cannot  be  used  to  advantage.  The  grower 
must  still  depend,  as  for  centuries  he  has  depended,  upon  the  carabao, 
or  water  buffalo,  and  the  small  plow.  The  only  effectual  improve- 
ment in  this  respect  has  been  the  introduction  of  steel  plows  instead 
of  wooden  ones.  The  former  turn  the  soil  better  and  run  at  a  greater 
depth,  but  they  are  all  one-animal  plows,  like  the  cruder  wooden  ones 
which  preceded  them. 

Plowing  begins  after  the  opening  of  the  rainy  season,  either  in  June 
or  July.  Seed  beds  are  prepared  first,  for  lowland  rice  is  all  trans- 
planted. The  fields  are  usually  flooded  by  early  rains,  and  plows 
and  harrows  work  them  into  a  muck.  Plowing  and  planting  are  done 
in  rain  and  mud,  and  both  operations  go  forward  together.  Men, 
women  and  children  in  certain  of  the  provinces  all  lend  a  hand  in  the 
transplanting,  as  they  also  do  later  at  harvesting.  Both  tasks  are  made 
occasions  for  holidays,  the  happy  farmers  planting  or  harvesting  to 
the  music  of  mandolins  and  singing  in  busy  chorus  the  ancient  folk- 
songs of  their  neighborhoods.  By  harvest  time  the  rains  have  ceased, 
and  everything  is  brightness  and  sunshine.  Harvest  scenes  are  pictur- 
esque in  the  extreme  and,  though  a  scientific  man,  as  exigency  labels 
me,  I  would  view  the  substitution  of  machinery  for  the  old  hand- 
gleaning  methods  almost  with  regret.  The  people  are  so  carefree  at 
the  rice  harvest!  Such  reunions,  such  fiestas,  such  dances  and  such 
songs ! 

Few  planters  have  paid  attention  to  the  vital  item  of  seed  selection, 
and  this  neglect  has  been  so  general  as  to  reduce  the  yield  by  a  very 
marked  degree,  perhaps  to  40  per  cent,  of  what  it  is  possible  to  attain. 
Consequently  a/  great  many  varieties  have  been  developed,  though  not 
all  have  justified  their  use  by  adequate,  dependable  yields.  To  correct 
this  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture  has  established  a  Division  of  Demon- 
stration and  Extension  and  has  for  several  years  conducted  a  cam- 
paign for  scientific  seed  selection.  Its  field  inspectors  are  charged 
with  this  work. 

Most  Philippine  rice  land  is  rich  enough  to  yield  100-fold  in  favor- 


44 

able  years  and  80-fold  in  less  favorable  seasons.  The  average  yield, 
however,  is  less  than  40-fold.  With  elimination  of  unprofitable  varie- 
ties and  breeding  up  of  profitable  ones  through  means  of  seed  selec- 
tion— a  practice  which  at  last  is  becoming  common — the  yield  will  in 
time  be  brought  to  the  height  in  keeping  with  the  soil's  fertility.  Public 
school  activities  on  school,  farm  and  home  garden  and  in  elementary 
agricultural  instruction  in  all  primary  and  intermediate  grades  is  a 
potent  influence  in  this  direction.  The  great  majority  of  the  public 
schools  are  established  in  rural  and  semi-rural  centers. 

On  lowland  rice  fields  flood  water  is  controlled  by  means  of  dikes 
run  at  frequent  levels.  Irrigation  receives  particular  attention  from 
the 'Government  and  is  being  extended  as  rapidly  as  funds  available 
permit.  I  have  recently  recommended  an  appropriation  of  50,000,000 
pesos  for  this  purpose.  Great  dependence  is  at  present  placed  upon 
the  rainfall,  which  the  dike  systems  are  constructed  to  control  and 
conserve.  At  times  the  rainfall  is  too  great;  at  times  it  is  too  small. 
On  the  whole,  decidedly  too  much  depends  on  the  will  of  Providence, 
and  the  rice  industry  will  be  on  a  much  safer  basis  when  the  crops  are 
grown  entirely  under  irrigation. 

Frequency  of  streams  and  availability  of  both  surface  well  and 
artesian  water  make  the  establishment  of  irrigation  systems  entirely 
feasible.  The  Insular  Government  has  made  it  possible  for  provinces 
and  municipalities  to  vote  bonds  for  this  purpose,  and  every  peso  pro- 
vided in  this  way  is  met  by  another  from  the  insular  Treasury.  The 
Bureau  of  Public  Works  has  a  well-organized  irrigation  division,  and 
its  engineers  supervise  the  governmental  projects,  this  being  an  im- 
portant activity  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Communications. 

Much  is  being  done  through  private  enterprise.  Not  a  few  planters 
have  installed  centrifugal  pumps  or  have  had  artesian  wells  bored  for 
irrigation  of  their  rice  lands.  Some  find  it  possible  to  use  their  trac- 
tion engines  for  pumping  purposes,  installing  them  either  at  the  edge 
of  a  convenient  stream  or  at  wells. 

Four  other  principal  crops  of  the  Islands  are  cocoanuts,  sugar  cane, 
corn  and  tobacco ;  but  the  area  cultivated  to  rice  is  greater  than  the 
aggregate  devoted  to  all  these.  However,  sufficient  rice  is  not  pro- 
duced yet. 

The  present  production  is  being  supplemented  by  culture  of  upland 
rice.  In  this,  I  am  sure,  there  is  much  hope.  Upland  rice,  unlike 
the  lowland  varieties,  may  be  handled  almost  exclusively  by  use  of 
machinery.  If  animals  are  used,  these  may  be  hitched  in  teams  and 
made  to  pull  larger  plows,  and  larger  planters  may  utilize  tractor  power 
for  plowing,  putting  into  tilth,  seeding  by  means  of  drills,  harvesting 
and  threshing.  Land  is  plentiful,  as  15,000,000  acres  of  agricultural 
land  are  lying  fallow,  millions  of  acres  of  which  are  adapted  to  rice 
growing. 


45 

While  upland  rice  cultivation  in  the  islands  may  be  said  to  have 
emerged  from  the  experimental  stage,  it  is  being  taken  up  these  days 
on  much  broader  lines  than  formerly  and  the  use  of  machinery  is 
being  tested  more  carefully.  One  planter,  for  instance,  is  devoting 
1,200  acres  to  upland  rice,  using  machinery  almost  entirely  and  fol- 
lowing cultural  methods  which  have  been  developed  successfully  in 
California  by  experts  formerly  connected  with  the  Bureau  of  Agri- 
culture in  the  Philippines.  His  success  will  be  an  impetus  of  decided 
force  in  the  extension  of  such  activities. 

Finally,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  and  the 
Provinces  of  Mindanao  and  Sulu,  much  is  being  done  towards  extend- 
ing rice  cultivation  in  Mindanao,  the  second  largest  island  in  the 
Archipelago,  with  an  area  of  36,000  square  miles.  Agricultural  colo- 
nies have  been  established  there,  and  emigration  is  being  encouraged 
from  the  thickly  populated  provinces  of  Luzon — the  so-called  Ilocos 
provinces — to  the  virgin  valleys  of  the  large  southern  island,  where 
vast  acreages  of  public  lands  are  to  be  had  either  by  homesteading 
or  under  lease.  This  movement  has  only  just  begun,  but  it  is  destined 
to  continue  and  to  grow,  and  when  the  potentialities  of  Mindanao  in 
rice  culture  have  been  attained,  or  half  attained,  the  Philippines  will 
produce  sufficient  rice  not  only  to  supply  itself  but  to  export  an 
abundant  surplus  of  this  prime  necessity  to  other  countries  of  the 
Orient.  My  memory  goes  back  to  a  time  when  cultivation  of  sugar- 
cane and  cocoanuts  was  much  less  extensive,  when  the  population  was 
not  nearly  so  wealthy  and  the  metropolitan  element  not  so  dominant, 
and  when,  with  the  simple  needs  of  the  people  of  that  time,  the  pro- 
duction of  rice  was  greater  than  the  demand. 

But  we  are  now  in  the  modern  era,  specializing  in  sugar,  hemp 
and  cocoanut  (copra)  production  and  the  like.  Therefore,  the  situa- 
tion presented  must  be  met,  and  this  can  be  done  only  by  specialization 
in  rice  cultivation,  a  thing  which  the  favorable  market,  the  energy  of 
the  people,  their  love  of  the  ancient  industry  and  the  foresight  of  the 
Government  are  gradually  accomplishing. 

RUBBER  GROWING  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES. 

In  the  year  1917  Mr.  Pearson,  editor  of  the  "  India  Rubber  World," 
made  a  trip  to  the  Philippine  Islands  for  the  purpose  of  investigating 
the  rubber  situation.  The  following  is  an  excerpt  of  his  very  interest- 
ing report  appearing  in  subsequent  numbers  of  the  "  India  Rubber 
World  " : 

For  nearly  fifteen  years  there  had  been  sporadic  attempts  at  the 
cultivation  of  rubber  on  Basilan  Island  of  the  Philippine  Archipelago. 
Unfortunately,   for  a  time  the  chief  interest  centered  about  "  Ceara 


46 

rubber,"  with  some  attention  paid  to  "  Castillao  "  and  a  very  little  to 
"  Hevea."  Thus,  in  1909,  Carl  F.  Miller  had  a  considerable  planting 
of  Ceara  which  grew  exceedingly  well.  These  trees  were  tapped  when 
they  were  three  and  one-half  years  old  and  about  8  inches  in  diameter. 
The  result  was  about  one-half  ounce  of  rubber  per  tree. 

Another  Ceara  planter,  F.  T.  Winters,  planted  Ceara  in  1906.  The 
trees  grew  well,  but  it  was  not  found  profitable  to  extract  the  latex 
from  them. 

Incidentally,  it  might  be  noted  that  the  Basilan  Plantation  Company 
began  with  Castilloa,  which  grew  wonderfully,  but  when  its  relatively 
unsatisfactory  product  was  discovered,  it  was  abandoned  entirely  in 
favor  of  "  Hevea." 

The  history  of  the  Basilan  plantation  is  of  much  interest.  It  dates 
back  to  1905,  when  Dr.  J.  W.  Strong,  of  Zamboanga,  acquired  some 
115  acres,  part  of  which  had  been  cultivated  and  planted  to  coconut 
trees.  At  the  outset  he  began  the  cultivation  of  Ceara  rubber,  inter- 
planted  with  hemp.  In  1907  the  first  planting  of  Hevea  trees  was 
begun,  but  it  was  more  as  an  experiment  than  anything  else.  A  year 
later  more  Hevea  trees  were  added.  In  1911  the  Basilan  Plantation 
Company  was  formed  to  take  over  Dr.  Strong's  holding.  It  was  com- 
prised of  residents  in  the  Philippines — Swiss,  Germans  and  Americans. 
This  gave  the  venture  more  capital,  additional  land,  some  1,000  hectares 
of  which  was  acquired  from  the  Government.  Hevea  rubber  and  coco- 
nuts, especially  the  former,  was  then  planted  on  a  considerably  larger 
scale.    The  new  land  was  jungle,  exceedingly  rich  and  well  drained. 

The  first  real  tapping  took  place  in  1915.  The  number  of  trees 
tapped  was  14,650  and  the  product  was  12,932  pounds  of  excellent 
rubber  gum.  As  is  always  the  case  when  trees  come  into  bearing,  the 
tapping  cost  was  high,  being  about  32  cents  a  pound.  Rubber  was  low 
when  the  product  was  marketed,  and  the  price  paid  was  51  cents  a 
pound. 

In  1916  the  production  was  32,982  pounds,  at  a  cost  per  pound  a 
trifle  less  than  24  cents  for  collecting.  The  rubber  was  marketed  at 
61  cents  a  pound. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  32,000  trees  were  being  tapped  and  the 
estimated  yield  of  51,000  pounds  had  already  been  exceeded.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  both  for  1915  and  1916  the  plantation  showed  a 
profit,  an  even  better  one  than  was  expected.  Nor  is  there  any  reason 
to  doubt  that  as  the  70,000  trees  come  into  bearing  and  mature,  profits 
will  be  greatly  increased  and  costs  lessened.  These  figures  of  increase 
which  the  company  has  prepared  are  exceedingly  conservative  and  are 
largely  exceeded  each  year.    They  are  : 


47 

Estimate  of  Yield  of  Four  to  Twelve  Year  Old  Trees. 

0.60  pounds  for  trees  4  years  old. 

1.19  pounds  for  trees  5  years  old. 

1.50  pounds  for  trees  6  years  old. 

2.03  pounds  for  trees  7  years  old. 

2.91  pounds  for  trees  8  years  old. 

3.63  pounds  for  trees  9  years  old. 

4.17  pounds  for.  trees  10  years  old. 

5.06  pounds  for  trees  11   years  old. 

6.22  pounds  for  trees  12  years  old. 

Labor  can  be  secured  from  the  nearby  Island  of  Cebu.  As  there 
are  already  thousands  of  Hevea  trees  installed,  seed  may  be  obtained 
almost  at  one's  door. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  interesting  to  note  the  comparative 
costs  of  bringing  land  into  cultivation  for  rubber  in  the  Philippines  as 
compared  with  the  present  great  rubber-producing  countries.  The 
figures  representing  the  cost  per  acre  are  as  follows:  $50.94  in  the 
Philippines;  $73.60  in  Sumatra;  $109.94  in  Java,  and  $137.42  in 
Federated  Malay  States. 

The  upkeep  per  acre  costs  approximately  $18  in  Mindanao  and  Sulu 
Provinces  of  the  Philippines ;  $20  in  Sumatra ;  $23  in  Java,  and  $29  in 
Federated  Malay  States. 

As  to  planting  and  growth,  the  following  figures  taken  from  the 
company's  records  are  significant : 


Rubber. 
Planted  in 


the  Year :  Acreage.  Trees. 

1910 51 .9  8,920 

1911 S 169.35  21,019 

1912 34.7  3,848 

1913 57.6  7,160 

1914 12.5  1,871 

1916 228.585  30,282 


554.635        73,100 


It  is  interesting  to  note  from  the  above  table  that  171  trees  to  the 
acre  were  planted  in  1910;  124  trees  in  1911;  110  trees  in  1912;  124 
trees  in  1913;  149  trees  in  1914,  and  132  trees  in  1916. 

The  annual  growth  of  the  trees,  according  to  official  measurements 
recorded  by  the  company,  is  :  \ 


48 


Circum 

ferential  Growth  in 
After  Planting. 

A 

the  Year 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Block  No. 

Planted  in  Year. 

Year. 

Year. 

Year. 

Year. 

2 

1910: 

inches 

5.48 

4.33 

4.93 

3 

1912. 

6.65 

5 

1913. 

6,175 

6 

1910. 

6.75 

4.85 

4.65 

9 

1911. 

5.2 

6.15 

5.45 

10 

1911. 

4.85 

5.95 

5.65 

11 

1911. 

4.55 

6.6 

5.5 

13 

1911. 

5.15 

6.25 

5.5 

15 

1911. 

4.75 

6.1 

5.9 

18 

1913. 

7.2 

The  rainfall,  as  far  as  known,  is  always  more  than  90  inches. 
According  to  the  Weather  Bureau  at  Isabela  the  rainfall  there  for  ten 
years  was : 


Annual 
m.m. 


Number  of 
Rainy  Days. 


1903 1,659.9  156 

1904 1,885.9  143 

1905 1,103.  112 

1906 1,811. 1  144 

1907 2,032.9  173 

1908 2,220.  186 

1909 1,970.6  184 

1910 2,227.2  205 

1911 1,539.6  123 

1912 1,529.  129 

1913 1,759.1  139 

Average  1,794. 1  153. 1 


Attitude  of  Government. 

The  Philippine  Government  is  giving  encouragement  to  rubber  com- 
panies. Following  is  a  cablegram  recently  received  from  the  Secretary 
of  Commerce  and  Communications  : 

"  Government  offers  in  Basilan  and  Mindanao  rubber  plantations 
situated  near  ports  of  entry  of  Cebu  and  Zamboanga  and  on  routes  of 
established  coastwise  commercial  transportation  service.  Regions  out- 
side typhoon  zone  possess  unsurpassed  natural  conditions  for  profitable 
production  of  rubber.  Labor  bureau  gives  facilities  to  planters. 
Matter  of  leasing  on  extremely  favorable  conditions  whatever  area 
required  by  bona  fide  rubber  planting  enterprises  will  be  recommended 
to  proper  authorities.  Dionisio  Jakosalem,  Secretary,  Department 
Commerce  and  Communications." 


49 

THE  SUGAR  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  PHILIPPINES. 
By  Cleve  W.  Hines. 

Sugar  cane  has  been  grown  in  the  Philippine  Islands  since  time 
immemorial.  Historians  state  that  when  the  Islands  were  discovered 
by  Magellan  in  1521,  he  observed  this  plant  among  others  grown  by 
the  natives  near  their  houses  for  food  purposes.  This  was  on  the 
Island  of  Cebu,  where  a  certain  variety  has  been  grown  for  many 
generations,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  this  was  the  one  observed 
there  by  the  discoverers  of  the  Archipelago.  It  is  one  of  the  richest 
canes  ever  reported  in  any  sugar  country,  although  in  yield  it  does  not 
compare  favorably  with  modern  varieties,  particularly  those  produced 
from  seed  during  the  last  two  decades. 

Two  other  varieties,  presumed  to  be  indigenous,  are  the  "  Inalmon  " 
and  the  "  Tigbao  Mestiza."  The  former  is  a  very  dark  cane,  with 
medium  long  inter-nodes  and  soft  tissues  and  with  a  distinctive  pleasant 
flavor,  making  it  particularly  well  adapted  for  chewing.  It  is  grown 
most  extensively  as  a  home  industry  in  regions  somewhat  remote  from 
the  principal  sugar  districts. 

The  other  plant,  the  "  Tigbao  Mestiza,"  is  in  fact  not  true  sugar 
cane,  saccharum  officinarutn,  but  a  remote  ancestor,  saccharum  spon- 
tenum.  This  is  found  in  uncultivated  regions  of  the  Island  of  Negros 
and  grows  very  profusely,  invariably  producing  large  stools.  The  suc- 
rose (pure  sugar)  content  is  very  low  and  the  fiber  high.  The  cane  is 
dark  purple  in  color.  Of  late  years  seedling  varieties  of  superior 
quality  have  been  imported,  and  the  writer  has  produced  numerous 
such  varieties  at  the  experiment  stations  of  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture, 
many  of  which  offer  extremely  promising  results. 

The  sugar  industry  of  the  Philippines  was  probably  first  conducted 
on  a  small  commercial  scale  in  some  of  the  provinces  on  the  Island  of 
Luzon,  near  Manila.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  it  was  introduced 
by  Chinese,  as  is  evidenced  by  such  implements  as  the  earthen  jar  or 
"  pilon,"  granite  rolls  which  came  directly  from  quarries  of  China,  and 
various  implements  and  methods  employed  in  antiquated  mills,  many 
of  which  are  as  much  in  vogue  to-day  as  they  were  a  century  ago.  The 
first  authentic  record  of  exportation  of  sugar  is  dated  1795,  when  some 
296,219  pounds  of  crude  sugar  were  shipped  from  the  Philippine 
Islands  to  the  United  States.  Finally  the  industry  migrated  to  various 
other  islands.  In  1849  it  was  started  on  the  Island  of  Negros  by  the 
Recoletos  Friars.  In  1854  exportations  had  grown  to  such  an  extent 
that  they  represented  33  per  cent,  of  the  total  of  goods  sent  abroad. 
From  that  time  until  the  present  day  this  industry  has  gradually  in- 
creased in  importance,  but  at  no  time  was  so  extraordinary  an  interest 


50 

in  its  development  shown  as  has  been  noted  since  the  close  of  the 
recent  war. 

During  the  Spanish  regime  the  most  antiquated  type  of  animal- 
driven  mills  were  the  rule,  until  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, when  animals  were  replaced  by  steam  power  furnished  by  small 
slide-valve  engines.  Juice  resulting  from  the  very  low  extraction  of 
these  small  mills  was  boiled  in  trains  of  open  kettles  set  directly  over 
fire.  The  result  was  a  low  grade  of  muscovado  sugar,  more  or  less 
discolored  from  caramelization  of  portions  which  burned  on  the  sides 
of  the  kettles.  But  by  this  time  the  world  had  learned  to  appreciate 
pure  sugar  of  light  color  and  free  from  bitter  caramel,  consequently 
the  trade  was  no  longer  content  with  the  open-kettle  product  of  ancient 
times.  Most  sugar  countries  had  long  since  discarded  old  open-kettle 
factories  and  replaced  them  by  others  capable  of  turning  out  a  high 
grade  of  centrifugal  sugar,  boiled  under  reduced  pressure,  free  from 
caramel  and  other  impurities. 

In  1885,  Spaniards  engaged  in  the  sugar  industry  of  the  Philippines 
endeavored  to  improve  the  products  of  their  mills  by  replacing  open- 
train  evaporators  by  small  vacuum  pans.  After  a  few  unsuccessful 
trials  with  these  modified  factories,  they  abandoned  the  attempt  at 
making  centrifugal  sugar,  and  it  was  not  until  the  Americans  came 
into  possession  of  the  Islands  that  another  attempt  at  modernization 
was  made. 

In  1910  the  sugar  industry  was  introduced  on  the  Island  of  Mindoro, 
when  one  of  the  most  modern  sugar  factories  was  started  near  the 
Town  of  San  Jose.  The  success  of  this  enterprise  caused  others  to 
install  centrifugal  factories,  and  to-day  eighteen  modern  mills  operate 
in  various  districts,  as  follows : 

Sugar  Factories   in  the  Philippines. 

Capacity  Tons 
Name  of  Factory.  Cane  Per  Day.        Where  Located. 

Calamba  Sugar  Estate 1,800  Canlubang,  Laguna 

Mindoro  Sugar  Co « 1,000  San  Jose,  Mindoro 

San  Carlos  Milling  Co 800  San  Carlos,  Negros  Occi- 
dental 

North  Negros  Sugar  Co 600  Manapla,  Neg.  Oc. 

Bearing  Central    500  Cabancalan,  Neg.  Oc. 

Philippine  Sugar  Development  Co 300  Calamba,  Laguna 

De  La  Rama  Sugar  Central 300  Bago,  Neg.  Oc. 

Guanco  Central  300  Hinigaran,  Neg.  Oc. 

San   Isidro   Central 250  Cabancalan,   Neg.  Oc. 

Carmen  Central    200  Calatagan,  Batangas 

Palma   Central    200  Hog,  Neg.  Oc. 

San   Antonio    Central 150  La  Carlota,  Neg.  Oc. 

Dinalupihan  Factory  125  Dinalupihan,  Bataan 

Talisay    Central    125  Talisay,  Neg.  Oc. 

Canlaon   Factory    125  Canlaon,  Neg.  Oc. 

Muntinlupa  Factory 100  Muntinlupa,  Rizal 

Saint  Louis  Oriental  Factory 90  Manaoag,  Pangasinan 

Look  Factory    90  Nasugbu,  Batangas 


51 

Factories  Under  Construction. 

Hawaiian-Philippine  Co Silay,  Negros  Occidental 

Pampanga  Sugar  Central Floridablanca,   Pam. 

Maao  Sugar  Central Maao,  Neg.  Oc. 

Bais  Sugar  Central Bais,  Neg.  Oriental 

La  Carlota  Sugar  Central La  Carlota,  Neg.  Oc. 

Talisay-Silay   Sugar   Central Talisay,  Neg.  Oc. 

Bacolod-Murcia  Sugar  Central Bacolod,  Neg.  Oc. 

Isabela   Sugar  Central Isabela,  Neg.  Oc. 

It  is  estimated  that  at  least  eight  times  as  many  factories  will 
eventually  be  required  for  manufacture  of  the  crop  when  the  farm 
lands  of  the  Islands,  so  well  adapted  to  the  production  of  sugar,  are 
developed,  and  when  modern  systems  of  cane  culture  are  more  gen- 
erally employed. 

Climatic  conditions  in  the  Philippine  Islands  are  particularly  favor- 
able for  the  production  of  cane.  Lying,  as  does  this  region,  within  the 
torrid  belt,  warm  weather  prevails  during  the  entire  year,  while  in  the 
harvest  season  it  is  both  dry  and  hot.  With  reference  to  rainfall,  there 
are  two  distinct  seasons ;  the  dry  season  extends  from  November  until 
June,  and  the  rainy  season  the  remainder  of  the  year.  During  the 
former,  in  normal  years,  occasional  showers  occur,  sufficient  to  give 
young  plants  and  ratoon  cane  a  start;  but  these  are  not  of  sufficient 
importance  to  interrupt  milling  and  cause  reduced  purities  of  the  cane 
juice,  except  in  abnormal  times,  such  as  in  1915.  This  favorable  con- 
dition during  the  maturing  season  is  largely  responsible  for  the  remark- 
ably high  percentage  of  sucrose  in  the  cane  and  the  high  co-efficient  of 
purity  of  the  juice  obtaining  in  the  Philippines. 

The  approach  of  the  rainy  season  is  evidenced  by  greater  regularity 
of  showers.  These  usually  fall  in  the  afternoon  or  at  night  and  in- 
crease in  intensity  until  July,  when  the  very  heavy  rains  begin.  During 
the  latter  part  of  September  or  early  part  of  October  they  gradually 
diminish  in  intensity,  and  by  the  beginning  or  middle  of  November 
they  virtually  cease. 

Occasionally  rains  are  accompanied  by  heavy  winds.  This  is 
especially  true  of  certain  sections  known  as  "  typhoon  regions."  These, 
among  other  places,  include  the  southeastern  portion  of  Luzon  and 
the  Islands  of  Leyte  and  Samar.  While  these  storms  are  not  generally 
sufficiently  violent  to  wreck  a  modern  sugar  central,  if  it  is  properly 
built  and  reinforced,  yet  it  is  deemed  a  wise  precaution  to  construct 
the  low  type  of  factories  in  such  regions.  When  heavy  storms  occur 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  growing  season,  they  often  uproot  cane, 
or  at  least  tangle  and  twist  it  so  as  to  make  harvesting  more  difficult. 

The  planting  season  necessarily  coincides  with  that  of  harvesting, 
since  cuttings  from  immature  tops  harvested  for  milling  are  used  as 
seed.  These  are  planted  in  rows  approximately  one  and  a  half  meters 
apart,  so  that  approximately  20,000  points  are  required  for  each  hectare 


52 

(2.47  acres)  of  land.  Planting  is  practically  finished  by  the  middle  of 
the  rainy  season ;  the  bulk  of  the  work  of  cultivation  must  be  done. 
From  then  until  harvest,  care  of  the  cane  consists  mainly  in  occasional 
weeding  and  hoeing  and  attention  to  drainage. 

On  modern  plantations  land  is  prepared  by  aid  of  steam  and  gaso- 
line power,  while  on  smaller  ones,  only  man  power  and  animals  are 
used.  Subsequently  cultivation  is  done  by  animal  power,  and  harvest- 
ing by  hand,  the  workmen  preferring  the  characteristic  native  "  bolo  " 
for  cutting.  The  cane  is  transported  to  the  mills  on  sleds,  animal- 
drawn  carts,  steam  or  gasoline  driven  wagons  or  steam  railways, 
according  to  the  stage  of  development  of  the  plantation. 

The  soil  of  the  various  sugar  districts  varies,  but  the  major  part 
is  of  volcanic  origin.  In  most  places  it  is  exceptionally  rich  in  potash, 
especially  in  those  vast  regions  near  the  extinct  volcanoes  of  Canlaon 
in  Negros,  Mayon,  Ambos  Camarines  and  Arayat,  Pampanga. 

These  lands  are  generally  well  supplied  with  phosphorus  and  lime 
for  plant  needs,  but  are  usually  deficient  in  nitrogen.  Still,  numerous 
leguminous  plants  grow  in  abundance,  which  may  be  used  to  supply 
\  nitrogen  very  cheaply.  Lands  far  removed  from  the  principal  volcanic 
regions  and  those  of  the  broad  coastal  plains  are  less  abundantly  sup- 
plied with  potash,  but  at  the  same  time  sufficient  of  that  element  is 
>  present  in  available   form  to  produce  ordinary  crops,   while  on  the 

alluvial  plains  which  have  constantly  supported  a  dense  vegetation' 
there  are  larger  supplies.    Nevertheless,  the  writer's  research  work  on 
various  sugar  plantation  soils  throughout  the  Archipelago  and  his  ex- 
periments at  the  Government  experiment  stations  have  indicated  that 
applications   of   fertilizers  containing  the  proper  amount  of   various 
plant  food  elements  to  make  a  "  balanced  ration  "  of  these  in  an  avail- 
able form  would  increase  yields  remarkably. 
/       The  soils  vary  greatly  in  texture.     Some  regions  have  heavy  reten- 
/    tive  soils,  which  are  very  difficult  to  cultivate,  except  when  the  moisture 
^scontent  is  just  right.    When  too  much  water  is  present  they  cake  and 
//become  very  hard,  while  if  they  are  too  dry,  they  break  up  into  big 
clods.    These  soils  are  quite  often  well  supplied  with  plant  food  mate- 
rial, because  filtration  of  soil  waters  containing  dissolved  plant  food 
material  is  retarded  by  their  firmness.     Another  type  of  soil  found  in 
various  sugar  districts  is  a  light  sandy  loam.     Cane  does  extremely 
well  in  this,  but  fertilizers  are  often  required  for  production  of  large 
crops.     These  soils  are  easily  handled  and  are  ordinarily  preferred  by 
experienced  planters. 

The  yield  of  sugar  in  the  Philippine  Islands  is  far  below  that  which 
will  be  attained  when  the  industry  is  carried  on  along  more  modern 
lines.  Many  lands  now  cultivated  to  cane  have  been  planted  to  this 
crop  year  after  year  for  half  a  century  or  more,  with  little  attempt  at 


53 

proper  drainage,  use  of  fertilizers,  irrigation,  deep  plowing  and  sub- 
soiling,  or  even  rotation  with  crops,  adding  humus  and  nitrogen  to  the 
soil.  In  fact,  it  is  a  general  custom  to  burn  off  all  plant  material  before 
plowing  in  order  to  facilitate  this  work. 

The  lands  have  continued  in  a  fair  state  of  productivity,  consider- 
ing the  treatment  they  have  received.  The  average  yield  to-day  in  the 
principal  sugar  districts  is  slightly  less  than  40  tons  of  cane,  or  approxi- 
mately four  tons  of  finished  sugar  per  hectare.  The  writer  has  proved 
at  the  experiment  stations  and  plantations  that  this  may  be  increased 
three-fold  by  modern  methods. 

The  coasts  of  the  Islands  on  which  sugar  is  produced  are  indented, 
and  while  some  favorable  landing  places  are  found,  most  of  these  are 
suitable  only  for  medium-sized  vessels,  due  to  shallow  waters  which 
extend  out  a  great  distance.  In  the  old  days  "  lorchas,"  or  sailboats 
of  less  than  100  tons  capacity,  were  used  to  transport  sugar  to  the 
market  center,  Iloilo,  for  the  Islands  of  Negros  and  Panay,  but  where 
modern  central  factories  have  replaced  old  mills,  lorchas  have  given 
way  to  barges  and  small  steamers,  and  in  some  places,  where  the  dis- 
tance from  land  to  deep  water  is  not  too  great,  long  wharves  have  been 
constructed.  This  has  been  done  at  San  Carlos,  on  the  east  coast  of 
Negros,  and  at  Pulupandan,  on  the  west  coast. 

While  sugar  cane  may  be  grown,  and  in  fact  is  grown  to  some 

extent  in  all  of  the  provinces  of  the  Philippines,  yet  its  cultivation  on 

a  commercial  scale  is  limited  to  those  which  have  extensive  level  lands 

and  rich  soils.    Distribution  by  provinces  in  1919  was  as  follows : 

Provinces.                                Hectares.  Provinces.  Hectares. 

Negros  Occidental 55,712        Ilocos  Sur 5,559 

Pampanga  34,458        Cebu   5,351 

Batangas    24,138        Oriental  Negros   2,996 

Iloilo  15,553        Bulacan   5,004 

Tarlac 8,846        Antique 4,540 

Laguna 6,801        Mindoro  1,759 

Four  kinds  of  sugar  are  manufactured  on  a  commercial  scale, 
namely,  refined,  centrifugal  test,  bayong  muscovado  and  pilon  musco- 
vado. Only  one  factory,  the  Luzon  Sugar  Refinery,  makes  high-grade 
refined  sugar.  This  factory,  which  is  at  Malabon,  in  Rizal  Province, 
about  seven  miles  north  of  Manila,  has  a  maximum  capacity  of  twenty- 
five  tons  of  centrifugal  sugar  per  day.  Animal  bone  char  has  been 
used  exclusively  as  the  clarifying  medium,  but  other  forms  of  charred 
carbon  will  be  substituted,  if  plans  of  the  past,  year  materialize  The 
three  grades  of  crude  sugar,  centrifugal  test,  bayong  and  pilon,  are 
used  as  the  crude  product  in  this  factory.  In  case  lower  grades  of 
muscovados  and  centrifugals  are  employed,  melting  and  preliminary 
subsidation,  and  later,  filtration  through  canvas  bags  are  required 
before  the  sugary  solution  is  passed  through  char-filters ;  but  where 
better  grades  of  centrifugal  test  sugars  are  used,  the  crystals  are  dis- 


54 

solved  and  passed  through  char-filters,  in  a  manner  identical  to  that 
employed  in  American  and  European  refineries. 

Three  things  operate  against  the  success  of  the  refining  industry  in 
the  Philippines,  namely,  the  high  cost  of  fuel  necessary  in  evaporation 
and  recrystallization  and  drying,  the  limited  local  market  for  refined 
sugar  and  the  long  journey  to  American  markets,  which  often  results 
in  the  product  becoming  damp  and  deteriorating  in  quality.  These 
adverse  conditions  are  offset  by  the  plentiful  supply  of  raw  material 
available  at  a  reasonable  price,  as  well  as  by  the  abundance  of  cheap 
labor. 

Centrifugal  test  sugar  is  made  at  centrals  on  large  modern  planta- 
tions for  remelting  in  refineries  as  a  source  of  standard  granulated  and 
cube  sugar.  In  the  manufacture  of  this  sugar,  the  cane  is  passed 
through  massive  rolls  which  extract  as  high  as  98  per  cent,  of  the 
sucrose  therefrom.  The  juice  is  then  weighed,  tempered  or  neutralized 
with  lime,  passed  through  a  heater  and  settled,  after  which  the  clear 
supernatant  liquor  is  passed  to  a  large  apparatus,  termed  "  effects," 
where  evaporation  takes  place  under  reduced  pressure.  In  this  the 
juice  is  reduced  to  the  syrup  stage,  in  which  it  still  contains  approxi- 
mately 50  per  cent,  of  water.  It  is  then  passed  to  sugar  boilers,  where 
evaporation  is  continued  until  the  solution  becomes  so  concentrated  that 
the  sucrose  is  forced  out  of  solution  by  crystallization.  This  heavy 
solution,  termed  "  massecuite,"  is  then  spun  in  centrifugals,  which 
causes  the  molasses  to  be  separated  from  the  crystals  and  increases  the 
purity  of  the  latter.  This  sugar  is  then  washed  in  centrifugals  until 
the  desired  polarization  or  percentage  of  sucrose  is  reached. 

By  far  the  greater  percentage  of  sugar  manufactured  in  the  Philip- 
pines in  the  past  has  been  "  bayong,"  or  "  mat  "  sugar.  This  is  a  type 
of  open-kettle  muscovado,  made  by  the  methods  used  in  other  sugar 
countries  a  century  ago.  The  cane  is  crushed  and  the  juice  extracted 
by  means  of  small,  poorly-equipped  mills.  It  is  then  tempered  with  a 
very  crude  grade  of  lime,  and  boiled  in  open  kettles  over  a  direct  flame 
until  reduced  of  its  moisture  content  to  a  point  where  it  can  be  handled 
in  bags  made  from  buri  palm  leaves.  This  sugar  is  graded  from  1  to  5, 
according  to  the  Government  standards,  as  follows : 

No.  1 — A  sugar  polarizing  87  or  above 
No.  2 — A  sugar  polarizing  85  to  86.9 
No.  3 — A  sugar  polarizing  82  to  84.9 
No.  4 — A  sugar  pdfarizing  80  to  81.9 
No.  5 — A  sugar  polarizing  76  to  79.9 

Lower  than  No.  5  is  classed  as  "  corriente,"  or  current. 
Better  grades  of  mat  sugar  are  sold  to  the  United  States,  Europe. 
Hong  Kong  and  Japan  and  melted  in  refineries  for  use  in  making  high- 


55 

grade  refined  sugar.    The  lower  grades  are  shipped  to  China,  or  used 
by  the  poorer  classes,  while  corriente  is  often  made  into  alcohol. 

In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the  sugar  industry  of  the  Philippine 
Islands  offers  exceptional  opportunities  for  investors.  The  fertile  areas 
which  have  not  been  cultivated,  owing  to  lack  of  sufficient  capital,  are 
almost  unlimited,  and  the  regions  now  exploited  in  sugar  production 
are,  from  our  modern  viewpoint,  comparatively  undeveloped. 

MINERAL  AND  FORESTRY 
RESOURCES. 


THE  PHILIPPINE  MINING  INDUSTRY. 

By  Frank  B.  Ingersoll, 

President,  Philippine  Exploration  Company. 

Chinese  writings  of  as  long  ago  as  the  third  century  report  gold 
as  the  chief  product  of  Luzon,  Island  of  the  Philippine  Archipelago. 

Activity  in  mining  received  a  severe  setback  by  the  prohibition  im- 
posed by  the  Spanish  government  in  1894.  It  was  shortly  prior  to  this 
time  that  European  capital  (mostly  British)  began  to  make  mining 
investments  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  These  were  confined  almost 
entirely  to  Camarines  Norte.  One  British  concern  planned  operations 
on  a  large  scale.  Several  quartz  properties  were  opened  up  and  con- 
siderable expensive  machinery  imported  from  England.  Just  when 
the  project  was  getting  fairly  under  way  the  Philippine  insurrection  of 
1896  broke  out.  The  English  engineers  in  charge  fled  for  their  lives 
and  the  machinery  and  mine  workings  alike  fell  into  disuse  and  decay. 
However,  some  of  the  machinery  parts  are  still  in  evidence  and  have 
recently  been  made  use  of  in  operations. 

From  the  outbreak  of  the  insurrection  until  the  establishment  of 
civil  government  by  the  United  States  in  the  Islands  in  1901  mining 
languished.  Nevertheless  during  the  latter  part  of  this  period  venture- 
some spirits — mostly  ex-soldiers  of  the  American  army  of  occupation 
— were  busily  prospecting.  Although  they  made  efforts  to  stake  and 
record  claims  by  proceedings  patterned  after  the  practice  in  the  United 
States,  there  was  no  legal  recognition  of  such  steps  until  after  the 
passage  of  the  Philippine  Bill  (the  Act  of  Congress  of  July  1,  1902), 
which  put  a  new  Mining  Code  into  effect. 

From  that  point  there  has  been  a  steady  growth  in  the  mining  indus- 
try, notwithstanding  that  there  has  been  a  scarcity  of  capital,  a  lack 
of  transportation  facilities,  of  reliable  labor  and  of  competent  super- 
intendence, and  insufficient  and  to  some  extent  unfriendly  laws,  to- 
gether with  a  want  of  appreciation  both  by  the  Government  and  by  the 
people  of  the  importance  of  the  industry. 


56 

Although  prospecting  and  development  were  actively  going  on  dur- 
ing the  first  few  years  of  American  occupation,  the  gold  output  did 
not  reach  appreciable  figures  until  1907  when  it  amounted  to  f*l  87,647. 
Thereafter  there  was  a  steady  advance  in  production  until  it  reached 
M,01 1,755  in  1916. 

In  1917  it  fell  down  to  1*2,816,638  while  for  1918  it  will  probably 
be  still  slightly  less. 

The  recent  falling  off  in  the  output  is  largely  due  to  war  conditions 
which  prevented  continuous  operation  from  lack  of  proper  materials 
and  supplies.  Added  to  this  there  has  been  a  decided  letdown  in  the 
production  from  dredging.  This  has  been  confined  entirely  to  one 
field — Paracale — where  the  alluvial  deposits  are  being  exhausted.  Al- 
though attractive  fields  have  been  proven  by  testing  in  other  districts. 
war  costs  have  put  a  prohibition  on  any  new  installations. 

Recent  gold  mining  is  limited  to  three  districts — Masbate,  Ben- 
guet  and  Paracale.  In  Benguet  there  is  but  a  single  quartz  mill  oper- 
ating, while  Masbate  (Aroroy)  has  two.  At  Paracale  five  dredges 
are  at  work. 

The  future  of  gold  mining  presents  some  difficulties,  at  least  until 
operation  costs  have  been  cut  down  to  something  like  normal.  Con- 
ditions which  increase  the  cost  of  operation  often  serve  to  change  a 
paying  mine  into  a  losing  one.  This  is  well  illustrated  by  the  effects 
of  the  recent  great  war.  The  outlay  for  materials,  supplies,  labor  and 
in  fact  for  everything  which  enters  into  operation  costs  has  been  met 
by  increasing  the  selling  price  of  the  product.  As  the  selling  price  of 
gold  always  remains  fixed,  no  remedy  is  open  to  the  miner.  His  busi- 
ness, which  pays  under  ordinary  conditions,  is  now  changed  into  a 
losing  venture. 

It  is  not  in  the  Philippines  alone  that  gold  mining  has  suffered  in 
consequence  of  the  war.  The  effects  have  been  world-wide.  In  the 
United  States  many  properties,  operating  on  such  a  large  scale  that 
the  total  of  profits  was  tremendous,  have  suspended  operations,  await- 
ing normal  conditions.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  discussion  over  the 
remedy  to  be  applied  and  numerous  suggestions  have  been  put  forward 
by  operators  and  legislators.  Without  reviewing  these  here  it  is  appar- 
ent that  the  Federal  Government  as  well  as  those  of  the  different  min- 
ing states  are  determined  not  to  permit  a  decline  of  this  important 
industry.  Suitable  legislation  and  liberal  treatment  by  administrative 
officials  seems  to  be  the  program  on  every  hand. 

Here  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  there  has  in  times  past  been  con- 
siderable to  complain  of  on  the  part  of  mining  operators  as  to  their 
treatment  by  the  Government.  Without  rehearsing  unpleasant  his- 
tory it  may  fairly  be  summarized  by  stating  that  this  status  arose  out 
of  over  zealousness  on  the  part  of  certain  administrative  officials  who 


57 

did  not  seem  to  realize  the  importance — from  the  Government's  stand- 
point— of  developing  young  industries. 

The  present  Government  attitude,  both  legislative  and  administra- 
tive, has  all  the  earmarks  of  being  liberal— a  constructive  policy  aimed 
toward  building  up  all  lines  of  industry  and  particularly  those  which 
tend  to  the  development  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  country. 

With  a  reasonable  period  of  waiting  to  permit  economic  conditions 
to  adjust  themselves  there  seems  no  good  reason  why  the  gold  pro- 
duction should  not  shortly  resume  its  upward  march.  Undoubtedly 
the  gold  deposits  of  the  Islands  are  widespread.  Hardly  a  stream 
from  whose  sands  some  showing  of  gold  cannot  be  panned.  Only 
insignificant  percentage  of  the  mineral  ore  has  as  yet  been  properly 
prospected.  While  there  are  failures  to  record  in  mining  operations 
there  are  other  instances  which  demonstrate  that  mining  can  be  car- 
ried on  profitably. 

To  summarize  briefly  what  seems  to  be  needed  is  more  capital, 
with  which,  properly  utilized,  to  do  more  thorough  prospecting  and 
preliminary  development,  to  install  more  modern  and  effective  equip- 
ment, to  tide  over  temporary  backsets,  to  procure  more  efficient  man- 
agement and  superintendence. 

Of  the  considerable  number  of  mining  engineers  of  prominence 
who  have  visited  the  Islands  not  one  has  condemned  them  but  all  have 
insisted  on  the  great  necessity  of  the  measures  above  noted. 

This  article  has  been  limited  to  gold  mining  for  the  reason  that 
there  has  been  almost  no  mining  development  in  other  branches.  How- 
ever, there  are  indications  of  valuable  mineral  deposits  of  various 
kinds  throughout  the  Archipelago. 

There  are  strong  showings  of  petroleum  in  Tayabas,  Cebu  and 
Mindanao. 

The  indications  are  that  it  would  pay  to  develop  many  of  these 
deposits  and  the  present  era  of  prosperity  and  development  should 
within  the  next  few  years  witness  a  considerable  production  in  sev- 
eral branches  of  the  industry  outside  of  gold  mining. 

PHILIPPINE  OIL  FIELDS. 

By  James  J.  Rafferty, 

Trade  Commissioner  of  the  Philip phi es  in  the  United  States. 

The  existence  of  petroleum  on  Bondoc  Peninsula  is  established  by 
the  presence  of  seeps  of  petroleum  associated  with  inflammable  gas 
at  various  places  throughout  the  oil  field. 

All  the  petroleum  encountered  so  far  is  similar  in  character  and 
of  a  good  quality.  It  is  of  low  specific  gravity  and  contains  a  large 
proportion  of  light  oils  which  would  make  it  of  relatively  high  value 
as  a  commercial  petroleum. 


58 

The  seeps  are  in  highly  inclined  strata  which  are  probably  in  all 
cases  part  of  the  structure  of  anticlinal  folds.  From  this  association 
it  is  believed  that  the  petroleum  in  this  field  has,  in  accordance  with 
the  general  law  of  petroleum  accumulation,  tended  to  collect  in  the 
crests  of  anticlines. 

The  petroleum  occurs,  associated  with  certain  horizons,  in  an  ex- 
tensive series  of  beds  of  sandstone  and  shale  (Vigo  shale)  which  is 
similar  in  character  to  the  oil-bearing  rocks  of  productive  fields,  notable 
those  of  Japan.  The  principal  seeps  are  found  in  the  upper  part  of 
this  series  in  a  zone  designated  as  the  Bacau  stage,  which  is  pre- 
dominantly shale  but  which  contains  subordinate  beds  of  sandstone. 
In  its  seepage,  the  petroleum  is  associated  with  the  shale  rather  than 
the  sandstone  and  may  be  observed  in  some  cases  to  come  directly 
from  the  shale.  Beneath  the  surface,  where  closed  lenses  of  sand- 
stone probably  exist,  the  principal  accumulation  of  petroleum  would 
be  expected  in  the  more  open,  sandy  zones.  At  the  surface  the  light 
oil  appears  to  have  escaped  readily  from  the  coarse-grained  beds  and 
to  have  been  retained  only  in  the  fine-grained  shale. 

The  petroleum  may  have  originated,  in  part  at  least,  in  the  Bacau 
stage  of  the  Vigo  shale  where  it  is  now  found.  Globigerina  and  other 
organic  remains  are  found  in  the  strata  with  which  the  oil  is  asso- 
ciated, the  decomposition  of  which  may  have  given  rise  to  petroleum. 
There  is  a  possibility,  however,  that  the  oil  is  not  indigenous  to  the 
strata  in  which  it  now  occurs  but  has  migrated  from  its  source  to  another 
horizon.  Beds  which  are  concealed  so  that  they  cannot  be  examined 
at  the  surface  and  which,  consequently,  may  be  the  source  of  the  oil 
which  is  now  associated  with  the  Bacau  stage  of  the  Vigo  shale,  occur 
at  the  Bondoc  Peninsula. 

Appreciating  the  importance  of  the  thorough  exploration  and  de- 
velopment of  the  oil  fields,  the  Philippine  Legislature  passed  the  fol- 
lowing measure  March,  1919 : 

"AN  ACT  TO  CREATE  THE  NATIONAL  PETROLEUM 

COMPANY." 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
Philippines  in  Legislature  assembled  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same  : 

Section  1 — A  company  is  hereby  organized,  which  shall  be  known 
as  the  National  Petroleum  Company,  the  principal  office  of  which 
shall  be  in  the  city  of  Manila,  and  which  shall  exist  for  a  period  of 
fifty  years,  from  and  after  the  date  of  the  approval  of  this  Act. 

Section  2 — The  said  corporation  shall  be  subject  to  the  provisions 
of  the  Corporation  Law  in  so  far  as  they  are  not  inconsistent  with  the 
provisions  of  this  Act,  and  shall  have  the  general  powers   mentioned 


59 

in  said  Law  and  such  other  powers  as  may  be  necessary  to  enable  it 
to  drill  wells  for  the  development  of  petroleum  deposits,  and  to  work 
said  deposits  and  sell  the  output  thereof. 

Section  3 — The  capital  of  said  corporation  shall  be  five  hundred 
thousand  pesos,  divided  into  five  thousand  shares  of  stock  having  a 
par  value  of  one  hundred  pesos  each,  and  no  stock  shall  be  issued  at 
less  than  par  nor  except  for  cash. 

Section  A — The  Governor-General,  on  behalf  of  the  Government  of 
the  Philippine  Islands,  shall  subscribe  for  not  less  than  fifty-one  per 
cent,  of  said  capital  stock,  and  the  remainder  may  be  offered  to  the 
provincial  and  municipal  governments  or  to  the  public  at  a  price  not 
below  par,  which  the  board  of  directors  shall  from  time  to  time  de- 
termine. Ten  per  centum  of  the  value  of  all  stock  subscribed  shall 
be  paid  at  the  time  of  the  subscription,  and  the  balance  thereof  shall 
be  paid  at  such  time  as  shall  be  prescribed  by  the  board  of  directors. 
The  voting  power  of  all  such  stock  owned  by  the  Government  of  the 
Philippine  Islands  shall  be  vested  exclusively  in  a  committee  consist- 
ing of  the  Governor-General  and  the  presiding  officers  of  both  Houses 
of  the  Legislature. 

Section  5 — The  board  of  directors  of  the  company  shall  consist  of 
five  members. 

Section  6 — There  is  hereby  appropriated,  out  of  any  funds  in  the 
Insular  Treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  such  sum  as  may  be 
necessary  for  the  payment  of  the  stock  of  the  National  Petroleum 
Company  to  be  acquired  by  the  Government  of  the  Philippine  Islands  ; 
Provided,  however,  That  the  Insular  Auditor  shall  not  set  up  any 
sum  or  sums  on  his  books  until  necessary  to  make  the  payment  or  pay- 
ments authorized  by  this  Act;  And,  provided  further,  That  unless 
otherwise  provided  by  the  Philippine  Legislature,  the  sum  available 
for  investment  during  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  nineteen  shall 
not  exceed  fifty  thousand  pesos,  and  a  like  sum  shall  be  the  maximum 
available  for  such  investment  during  each  subsequent  year. 

Section  7 — This  Act  shall  take  effect  on  its  approval. 

Approved,  March  4,  1919. 

To  date  the  work  of  the  National  Petroleum  Company  has  been 
of  an  exploratory  nature  but  it  is  anticipated-  that  the  coming  year 
will  show  many  interesting  developments. 

A  recent  investigation  of  the  petroleum  industry,  made  by  the 
Government,  discloses  the  fact  that  a  number  of  oil  companies  have 
been  incorporated  in  the  Philippines  but  failed  to  operate  their  pro- 
jects. The  following  are  the  substantiated  reasons  for  this  condi- 
tion: 


60 

1.  The  majority  of  the  companies  did  not  have  sufficient  capital 
to  adequately  provide  themselves  with  the  necessary  equipment  and 
men. 

2.  Incorporators  were  timid  about  putting  their  money  into  the 
development  work. 

3.  The  necessity  of  competent  technical  men  was  not  fully  realized 


LUMBERING  INDUSTRY  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES. 

By  Helene  H.  Wilson, 

Publicity  Secretary,  Philippine  Government  Commercial  Agencies. 

Practically  one-third  of  the  total  area  of  the  Philippine  Islands  is 
virgin  forest  land,  or  approximately  40,000  square  miles,  with  stands 
of  from  15,000  to  35,000  board  feet  to  the  acre.  Even  stands  of 
from  45,000  to  65,000  board  feet  to  the  acre  are  not  uncommon  at 
elevations  of  from  one  thousand  to  eighteen  hundred  feet  above  sea 
level.  In  addition  to  the  foregoing  there  are  close  to  20,000  square 
miles  of  more  or  less  scattering,  cut-over  and  second  growth  forests, 
which  are  classed  by  the  Bureau  of  Forestry  as  "  Non-Commercial." 
In  this  area  the  stand  does  not  average  more  than  between  two  and 
three  thousand  board  feet  to  the  acre.  It  is  from  this  second  classi- 
fication that  much  of  the  present  supply  of  timber  and  firewood  for 
local  use  is  taken. 

The  commercial  forests  are  located  on  the  islands  of  Luzon,  Min- 
doro,  Samar,  Leyte,  Negros,  Mindanao,  Palawan  and  a  number  of  the 
smaller  islands.  In  fact,  they  predominate  in  all  the  principal  islands 
except  Bohol  and  Cebu. 

The  composition  of  the  forests  from  the  botanist's  point  of  view 
is  very  complex,  but  to  the  forester  and  the  lumberman  it  is  quite 
simple.  About  three- fourths  of  the  total  volume  of  the  virgin  forest 
is  composed  principally  of  trees  of  the  dipterocarp,  of  lauan  family, 
which  furnish  all  the  abundant  export  timbers  of  the  islands.  Tak- 
ing the  forests  as  a  whole,  practically  90  per  cent,  of  the  standing  tim- 
ber belongs  to  a  group  of  different  botanical  species  that  enter  the 
market  under  about  half  a  dozen  trade  names. 

Development  of  the  Industry. 

Tales  of  early  Chinese  adventure  devote  considerable  space  to  the 
Philippines,  their  people,  and  records  of  trade  in  these  by-gone  centu- 
ries between  the  two  countries — long  before  Magellan  led  the  Spanish 
Armada  on  their  conquest  of  the  Far  East.  It  is  to  these  we  must 
refer  for  our  earliest  records  of  the  lumber  industry  in  th#  Philippine 
Islands.     We  find  that  even  in  those  days  the  Chinese  merchants  ob- 


61 

tained  logs  of  fancy  cabinet  woods  and  ship  timbers  from  the  Philip- 
pine forests  and  exported  them  to  China  for  manufacturing  purposes. 

The  Spanish  brought  with  them  some  ideas  for  the  improvement 
of  the  lumbering  industry,  and  we  find  that  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
fifteenth  century  a  few  small  water,  and  later  on  steam  power,  mills 
were  built.  They  followed  to  a  great  extent  the  old  system  of  buying 
logs  and  sawing  them  only  to  order.  Between  ten  and  twenty  years 
before  American  occupation  three  steam  power  mills  larger  than  any 
theretofore  attempted  were  erected  at  Manila. 

The  Americans  found  the  methods  of  lumbering  to  be  primitive. 
The  handling  of  the  industry  on  a  large  scale  was  practically  unknown. 
Individual  trees  were  selected,  felled,  stripped  of  bark  and  sapwood, 
or  else  squared  and  the  resulting  poles  or  logs  hauled  out  with  teams 
of  carabao  (water  buffalo).  The  hauling  was  done  on  crude  carts  or 
timber  wheels,  sledges,  or  by  dragging  the  log  over  the  ground  with 
no  more  apparatus  than  an  occasional  skid  or  roller.  Few  improve- 
ments have  been  made  even  to-day  by  the  small  operators. 

The  development  of  the  industry  during  the  past  twenty  years  is  a 
glowing  record  of  achievement,  in  the  face  of  almost  unsurmountable 
difficulties.  The  first  years  were  a  series  of  heartbreaking  experi- 
ences due  in  a  large  measure  to  the  distance  from  the  United  States 
as  a  source  of  supplies;  inadequate  transportation  of  out-of-the-way 
places,  and  chaotic  local  market  conditions.  But  having  conquered 
all  these  manifold  difficulties,  the  industry  as  it  exists  at  present  has 
gained  a  foremost  place  among  typical  American  achievements  in  the 
Far  East. 

The  lumbering  industry,  ranking  among  the  leading  industries  of 
the  Islands  to-day,  has  brought  many  blessings  to  the  people  other 
than  attaining  its  own  present  importance.  In  Mindanao  it  has 
proved  to  be  of  genuine  educational  value.  It  has  given  to  the  local 
population  permanent  employment  and  the  means  for  securing  a  con- 
tinuous and  better  food  supply. 

Logging  engines,  railroads  and  other  modern  equipment  have  been 
introduced  in  the  last  fifteen  years,  and  are  now  in  use  by  all  the  large 
operators.  Generally  speaking,  the  managers,  boss  loggers,  superin- 
tendents of  logging  railways,  sawyers,  saw-filers  and  yard  bosses  are 
Americans.  The  fellers,  locomotive  and  stationary  engineers,  track 
layers,  skidders,  loaders,  setters,  operators  of  edgers,  trimmers,  resaws, 
planers  and  matchers  are  Filipinos  and  Chinese.  Special  attention  is 
given  to  training  for  the  more  technical  work  of  the  lumbering  indus- 
try in  the  Trade  School,  conducted  under  the  direction  of  the  Bureau 
of  Education  at  Manila. 


62 

Accessibility  and  Transportation, 

The  timber  lands  are  often  rough,  but  no  more  so,  and  generally 
less  so,  than  in  the  greatest  lumber  regions  of  North  America.  There 
are  but  few  large  water  courses,  but  no  point  anywhere,  even  in  the 
largest  islands,  is  more  than  50  or  75  miles  from  tidewater,  and  the 
topography  is  rarely  such  as  to  present  inseparable  obstacles  to  the 
construction  of  railways.  Most  of  the  larger  mills  now  in  operation 
are  actually  on  the  seacoast  and  have  larger  logging  railroad  extending 
inland  to  distances  of  ten  miles  or  more.  There  are  a  number  of 
regions  where  there  are  excellent  opportunities  for  erecting  new  mills, 
either  in  the  timber  itself  or  at  points  on  the  coast  or  waterways  lead- 
ing to  the  sea. 

Steamers  specially  fitted  for  carrying  lumber  are  few,  and  freight 
rates  correspondingly  high.  Large  operators  should  arrange  for  their 
own  transportation  from  their  mill  to  Manila  or  other  points  within 
the  Islands  where  the  lumber  is  intended  for  home  consumption.  In 
the  case  of  export  stock,  shipments  should  be  made  direct  from  the 
mill  in  ocean-going  steamers  to  prevent  the  additional  expense  of 
transshipping  at  Manila.  • 

Cost  of  Operations. 

The  cost  of  operations  is  less  than  in  the  forest  regions  of  the 
Temperate  Zone  or  other  forest  regions  of  the  Tropics.  Ninety-nine 
per  cent,  of  the  timber  is  the  property  of  the  Government  and  is  ad- 
ministered by  the  Bureau  of  Forestry  under  a  system  of  licenses 
granted  for  from  one  to  twenty  years  duration,  with  the  privilege  of 
renewal.  The  long-term  license  arrangement  (or  concessions,  as  they 
are  popularly  called),  are  only  granted  on  certain  conditions  which 
specify  the  amount  of  capital  to  be  invested,  the  minimum  cut  during 
several  suceeding  years,  together  with  certain  requirements  a  sto  log- 
ging and  manufacturing,  equipment,  etc.  Stumpage  is  paid  for  as  cut 
at  the  following  rates,  based  on  the  classifications  set  forth  below : 

Classification  of  Forests. 

Group  I  (Names  of  Trees) — Acle,  Baticulin,  Betis,  Camagon, 
Ebony,  Ipil,  Lanete,  Mancono,  Molave,  Narra,  Tindalo,  Yacal. 

Group  II  (Names  of  Trees) — Alupag,  Aranga,  Banaba,  Bansala- 
guin,  Banuyo,  Batitinada,  Bolongeta,  Calamansanay,  Calantas,  Dun- 
gon,  Guijo,  Macaasim,  Malacadios,  Mangachapuy,  Palo  maria,  Supa, 
Teak,  Tucang-Calao. 

Group  III  (Names  of  Trees)— Agoho,  Amuguis,  Anubing,  Api- 
tong,   Batino,   Bitanhol,   Catmon,   Calumpit,   Cupang,   Dalinsi,   Dota, 


63 

Dungonlate,  Malacmalac,  Malapapaya,  Malasantol,  Mayapis,  Palosapis, 
Panao,  Sacat,  Santol,  Tamayuan,  Tanguile. 
All  other  groups  are  placed  in  four. 

The  metric  system  of  measurement  has  been  officially  adopted  by 
the  Philippine  Government.  The  forest  charges  based  on  the  vol- 
ume of  round  timber  of  the  different  groups  are  as  follows : 

Charge  Per  One  Thousand  Board  Feet. 

,     Group  I    $5  00 

Group  II   3  00 

Group  III  2  00 

Group  IV 1  00 

Inasmuch  as  the  bulk  of  the  cut  of  lumber  at  the  sawmills  (about 
90  per  cent.)  is  of  the  third  and  fourth  groups,  stumpage  is  compara- 
tively cheap.  A  big  advantage  to  the  Philippine  lumberman  is  that  as 
the  stumpage  is  not  paid  for  until  cut  the  necessity  for  a  big  investment 
in  timber  holdings  before  manufacturing  can  proceed  is  obtained. 
Long-term  agreements  usually  cover  an  area  of  from  10  to  300  square 
miles ;  skirting  tidewater  on  at  least  one  side. 

Logging  and  sawmill  machinery  comes  in  free  of  duty,  if  imported 
from  the  United  States.  From  other  countries  the  import  duty  is  15 
per  cent 

Labor  Supply. 

That  the  Philippine  labor  problem  can  be  successfully  solved  is  an 
established  fact  so  far  as  the  lumbering  industry  is  concerned.  When 
properly  treated  the  Filipinos  are  conscientious  and  fairly  steady 
workmen. 

In  sparsely  settled  forest  regions  it  is  necessary  to  import  laborers 
from  the  more  thickly  settled  districts.  The  majority  of  these  men 
are  married  and  when  they  make  a  move  that  gives  evidence  of  per- 
manent betterment  they  expect  to  bring  their  families  with  them. 
Therefore,  colonies  must  be  established,  schools  and  churches  built, 
and  amusements  provided.  Once  the  lumberman  gains  the  confidence 
of  his  employes,  he  will  find  long  lists  of  applicants  awaiting  him. 

Classes  of  Mills. 

There  are  three  distinct  classes  of  lumbering  plants  in  the  Islands : 

(1)  Hand-sawing,  also  known  as  whip-sawing,  used  extensively 
in  the  provinces  by  the  Chinese  lumbermen.  Practically  every  town 
has  its  whip-sawyers.  There  are  also  several  larger  hand-sawing  mills 
located  in  Manila,  Cebu,  Iloilo  and  other  of  the  principal  cities.  These 
mills  have  a  capacity  of  from  3,000  to  10,000  board  feet  per  day. 

(2)  The  small  water  "or  steam  mills,  working  along  much  the  same 


64 

lines ;  but  carrying  a  stock  of  thousands  and  even  of  tens  of  thousands 
of  feet  of  rough  and  milled  lumber.  These  mills  are  run  by  Filipinos, 
Chinese  and  Spaniards,  with  a  sprinkling  of  American  and  European 
operatives  in  the  larger  mills. 

(3)  The  large  steam  mills,  both  band  and  circular  saw  types,  estab- 
lished almost  entirely  by  American  and  European  capital,  and  managed 
by  Americans.  These  mills  carry  a  large  stock  of  finished  lumber  and 
are  for  the  most  part  the  lumber  exporters  of  the  Islands. 

Sawmill  waste  almost  always  provides  ample  fuel.  Logging  loco- 
motives burn  principally  wood,  with  a  small  admixture  of  coal.  Until 
recently  the  major  portion  of  the  coal  used  in  the  Philippines  has  been 
imported,  but  with  the  organization  of  the  National  Coal  Co.,  for  the 
development  of  the  Philippine  coal  fields,  it  is  believed  that  a  sufficient 
supply  for  all  home  uses  will  be  obtained,  thereby  lowering  the  price 
of  this  fuel  considerably. 

Uniform  Grading  Rules. 

Efforts  have  been  made  for  years  past  to  establish  some  standard 
system  of  grading  Philippine  lumbers.  In  1917,  the  Bureau  of  For- 
estry secured  the  services  of  an  expert  hardwood  lumber  inspector, 
who  was  familiar  with  Philippine  lumber,  and  detailed  him  to  draw 
up  a  set  of  grading  rules  suitable  to  the  local  species.  The  lumber, 
both  for  export  and  home  consumption,  is  now  being  graded  in  accord- 
ance with  these  standard  rules,  specifying  firsts,  seconds  and  export 
common.  Guaranteed  grades  will  also  apply  to  railroad  ties,  car  ma- 
terial and  construction  timbers. 

In  addition  to  the  Trade  School,  where  boys  are  taught  the  techni- 
cal side  of  lumber  production,  a  School  of  Forestry  is  maintained 
under  the  supervision  of  the  Director  of  Forestry,  where  students  are 
prepared  to  take  place  in  the  Forestry  Division  of  the  Government 
service. 

About  $6,000,000  is  invested  in  the  more  modern  sawmill  equip- 
ment in  the  Philippines,  and  several  millions  more,  of  which  no  accu- 
rate data  is  available,  are  invested  particularly  in  animals,  by  the  thou- 
sands of  small  licensees  in  their  logging  operations. 

Production  and  Prices. 

In  spite  of  the  large  decrease  in  exports,  owing  to  the  demand  on 
shipping  for  other  products  and  the  heavy  freight  rates,  almost  all  of 
the  mills  continued  to  operate  full  time  during  1917,  1918  and  1919, 
and  in  several  cases  overtime.  Taking  the  seven  larger  mills,  they 
produced  62,000,000  board  feet  in  1918  as  against  36,000,000  board 
feet  in  1917.  The  total  production  for  mill-sawn  timber  in  1918  was 
75,000,000  board  feet,  as  compared  with  60,000,000  board  feet  in  1917. 


65 

These  figures  are  only  for  mills  operating  on  their  own  license  areas 
and  do  not  include  the  output  of  the  mills  operating  in  various  portions 
of  the  Islands,  which  buy  their  logs  from  logging  licensees. 

In  addition  to  the  native  lumber  manufactured  in  1918,  there  were 
imported  6,308,700  board  feet,  practically  all  from  the  United  States; 
of  which  a  portion  was  re-exported  to  India  and  the  Dutch  East  Indies. 
The  figures  showing  the  1919  production  and  distribution  have  not 
yet  been  compiled. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  phases  of  a  discussion  concerning  timber 
is  to  give  a  just  estimate  of  prices.  The  price  of  a  given  wood,  even 
where  lumber  is  of  the  same  dimensions  and  quality,  may  vary  in 
accord  with  certain  external  conditions.  Broadly  speaking,  supply 
and  demand  are  the  chief  governing  factors  in  the  long  run. 

With  the  present  era  of  prosperity  in  the  Philippines,  the  local 
demand  will  undoubtedly  increase  greatly.  The  increased  activity  in 
other  industries,  particularly  copra,  and  the  establishment  of  cocoanut 
oil  factories,  has  ushered  in  a  new  and  better  day  for  the  many  small 
land  owners  and  they  are  showing  a  keen  interest  in  the  building  of 
wooden  dwellings  to  replace  those  of  mixed  materials  now  common 
in  the  provinces. 

Public  works  projected  for  the  coming  year  are  more  extensive 
than  any  ever  before  contemplated  in  the  Island  and  the  demand  for 
this  purpose  alone  should  be  well  over  15,000,000  board  feet. 

Varieties  of  Woods. 

The  Philippine  forest  products  range  from  the  lightest  daluro  (air 
roots  of  pagatpat),  used  as  a  cord  substitute,  to  one  of  the  heaviest 
woods  in  the  world — mancono  (80  pounds  to  the  cubic  foot)  and  from 
pines  similar  to  the  yellow  pines  of  our  Southern  States  to  the  finest 
cabinet  woods. 


OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

The  following  resume  of  industrial  resources  awaiting  develop- 
ment was  originally  prepared  by  the  Philippine  Bureau  of  Science 
under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Alvin  J.  Cox. 

Fisheries. 

Fish  Ponds^-The  value  of  the  fish  ponds  in  the  vicinity  of  Manila 
is  about  6,000,000  pesos.  There  are  also  extensive  ponds  in  various 
other  localities  in  the  Islands.  These  ponds  in  many  cases  serve  a 
two-fold  purpose — the  growing  of  the  ordinary  market  fish,  bangos, 
and  the  manufacturing  of  salt — each  being  a  profitable  industry. 


66 

Food  and  Game  Fishes — Next  to  agricultural  products,  food  fishes 
are  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  Filipino  people.  In  Manila  alone 
fresh  fish  to  the  value  of  over  5,000  pesos  are  sold  each  day.  Sixteen 
hundred  species  of  fishes  from  Philippine  waters  have  been  identified, 
and  with  a  few  exceptions  they  are  all  used  as  food.  Such  fishes  as 
the  anchovy,  sardine,  and  herring  abound  and  constitute  a  potential 
source  of  wealth. 

Game  fishes  abound  in  many  places  in  the  Islands ;  the  jew  fish,  the 
bonita,  the  sword  fish,  and  tuna  afford  the  best  sport. 

Pearl  Fisheries — Pearl  shell  to  the  amount  of  292,211  kilograms, 
valued  at  354,260  pesos,  was  exported  during  1913,  the  number  of 
pearls  secured  during  the  year  was  above  the  average,  and  the  price 
paid  by  dealers  was  high.  Fifty-two  pearling  boats  are  now  operating 
in  Moro  Province.  The  pearl  fisheries  are  proving  to  be  a  very 
attractive  field  of  investment,  especially  for  Japanese  capital. 

Button  Shells — The  increasing  demand  for  shells  for  the  manu- 
facturing of  pearl  buttons,  particularly  for  the  top  shell  (Trochus) 
and  the  turban  shell  (Turbo),  has  stimulated  the  gathering  of  them 
by  fishermen.  The  amount  of  these  shells  exported  during  the  last 
year  was  738,025  kilograms,  valued  at  287,120  pesos. 

Window  Shell — About  5,000,000  window  shells  are  used  each  year 
in  the  building  operations  in  the  city  of  Manila,  a  large  proportion 
of  which  come  from  the  beds  in  Manila  Bay.  The  demand  for  these 
shells  in  other  countries  for  making  windows,  lamp  shades  and  screens 
is  steadily  growing.  The  Bureau  of  Science  is  making  an  effort  to 
increase  their  cultivation. 

Preserving  Fishery  Products — The  waters  of  the  Philippines  team 
with  sardines  and  anchovies  of  good  quality,  and  yet  sardines  to  the 
value  of  about  100,000  pesos  are  imported  into  the  Philippines  each 
year.  However,  an  interest  is  being  taken  in  this  matter  by  American 
packers  who  have  requested  samples  of  sardines  and  have  indicated 
their  willingness  to  invest  money  in  a  fish  cannery.  A  sardine  can- 
nery should  pay  good  dividends. 

The  drying  and  curing  of  fish  could  be  more  profitably  and  ex- 
tensively carried  on  by  adopting  modern  methods.  Preservation  of 
commercial  fish  and  fishery  products  in  the  tropics. 

Starch. 

An  investigation  of  a  number  of  starch-producing  plants  growing 
in  the  Philippine  Islands  has  been  carried  on.  Among  these  may  be 
mentioned  tapioca  or  cassava  (Manihot  utilissima  Pohl),  the  native 
name  being  camoting  cahoy;  arrowroot  (Maranta  arundinacea  Linn.)  ; 


67 

sincamas  (Pachyrhizus  erosus  Urban) ;  the  Polynesian  arrowroot 
(Tacca  pinnatifida  Forst.) ;  yams  (Dioscorea;  Amor pho phallus  cam- 
panulatus  Blume) ;  seeds  of  Cycas  circinalis  Linn. ;  and  the  sugar  palm 
(Arenga  saccharifera  Labill.).  The  most  promising  of  all  these  is  the 
cassava  which  grows  luxuriantly  in  various  parts  of  the  Islands  and 
produces  large  quantities  of  starch  Twenty-seven  per  cent,  of  the 
weight  of  the  material  can  be  extracted  by  commercial  processes. 
The  starch  of  the  sugar  palm  is  used  by  natives  of  certain  parts  of 
the  Islands,  principally  the  Mafigyans,  a  hill  tribe  of  Mindoro.  They 
extract  the  starch  from  this  palm  and  use  it  as  a  staple  article  of  diet. 
They  transport  it  to  the  lowlands  in  baskets  of  palm  leaves  where  it 
is  sold  and  traded  for  other  articles.  In  Mindanao  the  sago  palm 
(Metroxylon  rumphii  Mart.)  is  of  great  local  importance,  and  the  com- 
mercial exploitation  of  the  Philippine  sago  is  a  possible  further  de- 
velopment. This  is  the  species  that  yields  the  sago  of  commerce,  and 
it  occurs  abundantly  in  parts  of  Mindanao. 

Vegetable  Oils. 

Important  vegetable  oils  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  other  than  coco- 
nut oil,  are  produced  from  lumbang,  kapok,  cashew,  castor  bean,  cotton 
seed,  physic  nut,  and  pili.  This  type  of  oils  is  also  derived  from  oil- 
bearing  seeds  and  is  of  considerable  importance.  Lumbang  oil  has 
good  drying  qualities  and  is  used  in  the  varnish  trade.  The  production 
of  this  and  of  pili  nut  oil  is  increasing  in  importance.  Other  oils  now 
little  known  may  prove  of  commercial  value. 

The  Perfume  Industry,  Essential  Oils  and  Terpenes — The  Philip- 
pine Islands  are  especially  rich  in  plants  which  produce  large  numbers 
of  terpenes.  The  most  important  essential  oil  and  terpene-producing 
plants  have  been  studied  by  the  chemists  of  the  Bureau  of  Science  and 
their  commercial  value  discussed  in  The  Philippine  Journal  of  Science. 
A  comprehensive  investigation  of  the  Benguet  pine  has  shown  that 
excellent  turpentine  and  colophony,  practically  identical  with  the 
products  originating  in  America,  can  be  produced  from  this  source. 
Various  resins,  such  as  elemi,  balao,  apitong  and  copal  have  been  in- 
vestigated to  determine  their  chemical  composition,  their  value  in  the 
manufacture  of  varnishes,  etc.  The  essential  oils  responsible  for  the 
fragrance  of  many  plants  and  flowers  have  also  received  considerable 
attention ;  among  these  are  ylang-ylang,  champaca,  orange,  lemongrass, 
vetiver,  cinnamon  and  ginger.  Several  of  these  are  used  in  the  per- 
fume industry  and  others  in  the  manufacture  of  nonalcoholic  bev- 
erages and  fruit  flavors.  This  work  should  be  the  basis  for  industries 
in  the  Philippine  Islands. 


68 

LIMESTONE  AND  SILICATE  INDUSTRIES. 

Sand,  limestone  and  clay,  although  the  most  common,  familiar  and 
perhaps  the  least  appreciated  of  mineral  resources,  nevertheless  con- 
stitute an  asset  of  importance  to  any  country.  Limestones  of  excel- 
lent quality  are  abundant  and  of  widespread  occurrence  throughout 
the  Philippine  Islands,  and  in  certain  localities  there  is  also  an  abun- 
dance of  sand,  shale  or  clay,  the  physical  and  chemical  properties  of 
which  guarantee  to  this  Archipelago  stable  industries  among  which  the 
manufacture  of  Portland  cement,  quicklime,  hydraulic  lime,  sand-lime 
brick  and  artificial  stone  products;  building,  vitrified  and  fire  brick; 
glass,  roofing  material  and  vitrified  pipes,  tiles  and  other  ceramic  prod- 
ucts are  certain  to  become  exceedingly  important. 

Portland  Cement — The  imports  of  Portland  cement  during  the  past 
few  years  have  had  an  average  annual  market  value  of  about  1,500,000 
pesos,  and  the  local  consumption  is  certain  to  increase  as  the  country 
progresses  in  financial  and  industrial  importance.  The  local  manu- 
facture of  this  material  will  not  only  save  transoceanic  freights,  but 
also  an  import  duty  of  3.20  pesos  per  ton  on  all  non- American  cements. 
The  Rizal  Cement  Company  is  constructing  a  1,000-barrel  per  day 
plant  at  Binangonan.  Excellent  Portland  cement  has  been  made  from 
several  local  deposits  of  limestone  and  siliceous  materials.  In  Cebu 
desirable  cement  raw  materials  occur  adjacent  to  undeveloped  coal 
fields,  the  fuel  from  which  is  of  suitable  quality  for  burning  cement. 

Sand-Lime  Products — Conditions  are  very  favorable  in  the  Phil- 
ippines for  the  commercial  manufacture  of  brick  building  blocks,  tiles, 
slabs,  marbles  and  ornamental  stones  from  sand  and  lime.  The  cost 
of  manufacturing  and  selling  9-inch  bricks  of  the  best  quality  is  esti- 
mated not  to  exceed  13  pesos  per  1,000,  which,  in  comparison  with 
the  price  of  other  building  materials,  offers  considerable  margin  for 
profits. 

Lime — Pure  coralline  and  crystalline  limestones  suitable  for  the 
manufacture  of  lime  occur  throughout  the  Philippine  Islands.  The 
value  of  the  lime  now  produced  is  about  100,000  pesos  per  annum.  It 
does  not  meet  the  demand  in  either  quantity  or  quality.  A  well-burned 
lime,  such  as  is  produced  in  the  experimental  kiln  at  the  Bureau  of 
Science,  has  a  market  value  of  50  pesos  per  ton.  If  good  lime  were 
available  at  a  moderate  price,  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  demand  for 
it  would  soon  equal  the  output  of  large  kilns.  The  increasing  produc- 
tion of  sugar  by  modern  methods  is  augmenting  the  demand  for  lime. 
It  is  probable  that  the  industry  would  thrive  best  if  conducted  in  con- 
nection with  a  sugar  central  or  with  a  sand-lime-brick  plant. 

Philippine  Dye*— While  it  is  true  that  the  artificial  dyes  have 
largely  supplanted  natural  materials,  in  some  districts  there  occur 


69 

natural  dyes  of  sufficient  brilliancy,  permanency  and  quantity  to  be  very 
valuable.  They  are  employed  in  the  dyeing  of  native  fibers  for  the 
manufacture  of  hats,  mats,  baskets,  cloth,  etc.  A  number  of  these 
dyes  have  been  investigated  and  the  results  published. 

Tanning  Materials — Tanners  of  the  United  States  are  becoming 
each  year  more  dependent  upon  imported  material.  Bark  from  the 
better  species  of  Philippine  mangrove  trees  contains  30  per  cent,  of 
tannin,  and  a  net  profit  of  from  50  pesos  to  60  pesos  per  ton  can 
probably  be  made  on  tanning  material  derived  from  the  mangrove 
swamps  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  There  are  areas  or  workable 
swamps  in  the  Islands  capable  of  producing  yearly  1,500  metric  tons 
of  extract,  having  a  value  of  210,000  pesos.  The  exploitation  of  these 
swamps  would  involve  a  firewood  and  piling  industry  of  about  an 
equal  magnitude.  The  extended  use  of  mangrove  bark  and  more 
particularly  mangrove  extract  is  comparatively  a  recent  development. 
All  the  species  of  mangrove  of  any  importance  in  the  eastern  tropics 
are  found  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  the  opportunity  for  a  profit- 
able cutch  industry  is  very  great. 

Papaya  Gum — A  study  of  the  properties  of  papaya  gum  made 
from  the  latex  of  Carica  papaya  has  resulted  in  improving  methods 
for  preparing  this  important  commercial  product.  The  results  already 
obtained  show  conclusively  that  gum  may  be  made  in  the  Philippines 
which  is  equal,  if  not  superior,  both  regarding  color  and  activity,  to 
any  now  on  the  world's  market.  The  constantly  increasing  demand 
for  papaya  gum  as  a  substitute  for  pepsin  and  the  well-known  fact 
that  satisfactory  gum  is  difficult  to  obtain  assure  a  steady  market  for 
a  high-grade  Philippine  product. 

Medicinal  Plants — A  very  large  number  of  plants  are  used  by 
Filipinos  in  the  treatment  of  diseases.  Datura,  dita,  sibucao,  maca- 
buhay,  bonduc,  purging  oils  and  the  fish  and  arrow  poisons  have  been 
studied.  A  few  of  these  are  recognized  as  sources  of  various  medi- 
cines in  the  standard  pharmacopoeia.  The  active  constituents  of  many 
medicinal  plants  growing  in  the  Archipelago  have  been  isolated  and 
identified. 

There  are  very  few  commercial  species.  A  single  medicinal  plant 
is  commercially  important  for  export  at  the  present  time  and  that  is 
the  St.  Ignatius  bean  (Strychnos  ignatii  Berg.)  yielding  strychnine 
and  brucine,  the  species  being  found  native  only  in  the  Philippines, 
The  castor  oil  plant,  croton  oil  plant,  kamala  and  datura  (as  a  source 
of  atropine)  are  very  little  or  not  at  all  utilized  although  all  grow  very 
luxuriantly  and  are  very  abundant.  The  potential  commercial  medic- 
inal plants  are  many,  but  the  industry  must  be  developed  by  individ- 
uals. The  Bureau  of  Science  will  gladly  supply  data  with  regard  to 
specimens  submitted. 


70 

Honey — Wild  honey  is  plentiful  in  all  the  wooded  portions  of  the 
Philippines,  and  a  considerable  trade  is  carried  on  in  honey  and  wax 
collected  by  the  crudest  methods.  Philippine  honey  bees  produce  an 
excellent  grade  of  honey.  Bee  culture  could  be  carried  on  in  connec- 
tion with  farming.  Even  at  present  a  couple  of  thousand  pesos'  worth 
of  honey  is  imported  each  year,  indicating  an  ample  local  market  for 
the  native  product.  Efforts  to  import  honey  bees  from  the  temperate 
zone  have  not  been  entirely  successful. 

Alcohol — Almost  the  entire  insular  production  of  alcohol — about 
10,000,000  proof  gallons  per  year — is  made  from  the  sap  of  the  nipa 
palm,  which  grows  luxuriantly  in  a  number  of  places  in  the  Philip- 
pine Islands  .  Although  extensive  nipa  swamps  exist  in  the  Philippine 
Islands,  only  a  few  are  utilized  commercially.  The  alcohol  industry 
has  been  investigated  and  methods  for  improving  the  process  of  man- 
ufacture have  been  described  in  a  number  of  papers  from  the  Bureau 
of  Science.  Also,  it  has  been  discovered  that  a  more  profitable  man- 
ner of  utilizing  the  sap  of  this  palm  is  in  the  manufacture  of  sugar. 

It  has  long  been  known  that  several  species  of  palm  trees  secrete 
a  sap  rich  in  sugar  and  the  natives  of  various  countries  have  taken 
advantage  of  this  fact,  but  no  exploitation  on  a  commercial  scale  has 
been  attempted  for  the  reason  that  it  promised  no  financial  returns. 
A  thorough  investigation  has  shown  that  we  have  in  the  nipa  palm  a 
source  of  sugar  which  has  been  proved  to  be  very  attractive  from  the 
standpoint  of  investment.  The  fresh  sap  has  approximately  the  com- 
position of  that  of  sugar-cane  sap,  and  the  methods  of  collecting  and 
preserving  it  during  transportation  to  the  refinery  have  been  improved. 
The  difficulties  encountered  in  the  establishment  of  the  business  upon 
a  large  scale  have  been  entirely  overcome  through  the  investigation 
of  the  Bureau  of  Science.  The  production  of  sugar  from  the  nipa 
palm  is  an  industry  new  to  the  world  and  one  which  will  be  unique  to 
the  Philippine  Islands;  it  will  give  a  remarkable  value  to  large  areas 
of  swamp  which  are  otherwise  almost  valueles. 

Materials    for    the    Manufacture    of    Industrial    Alcohol 
Abundant  in  the  Philippines. 

Nipa  palm  sap,  discard  molasses  from  the  sugar  mills  (amounting 
annually  to  more  than  seven  million  gallons),  also  sawdust,  wood 
waste,  ripe  fruit,  especially  bananas  make  excellent  materials  for  the 
manufacture  of  industrial  alcohol.  These  are  found  in  abundant 
quantities  in  the  Islands.  The  development  of  the  industry  is  advo- 
cated for  lighting  purposes  and  for  fuel. 


71 

Rope  Industry. 

There  are  several  successful  rope  and  cordage  factories  now  in 
operation  in  Manila.  In  1915  the  rope  exports  amounted  to  ^189,799, 
while  in  1918  they  reached  the  sum  of  f*l,733,986. 

Manila  Hemp  (or  Abaca)  is  one  of  the  leading  agricultural  re- 
sources of  the  country.  It  is  cultivated  almost  entirely  by  small 
farmers,  and  even  a  relatively  short  period  of  depression  would  be 
sufficient  to  drive  many  of  them  out  of  business.  The  cordage  market 
is  not  subject  to  the  sharp  fluctuations  and  control  as  is  the  hemp. 
The  establishment  of  a  sufficient  number  of  rope  and  cordage  fac- 
tories for  the  manufacture  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Manila  Hemp 
into  marine  cable  and  cordage  is  desired. 

WATER  POWER  AND  ELECTRICAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

A  study  of  the  water  power  facilities  of  the  Philippines,  recently 
made  under  the  direction  of  the  Government,  shows  that  the  Philippine 
rivers  offer  an  almost  inexhaustible  fountain  of  energy  for  the  genera- 
tion of  electric  power.  Agus  River  in  Lanao,  Mindanao,  has  350,000 
H.  P.  available.  Agos  in  Tayabas  Province,  55,000 ;  Angat  in  Bulacan 
Province,  9,000;  and  Agno  in  Mountain  Province  and  Pangasinan, 
60,000.  Moreover,  there  are  numerous  small  streams  which  may  be 
developed  to  furnish  motive  power  from  ten  to  one  hundred  H.  P.  or 
over.  Manila  is  well  equipped  with  electrical  power  both  for  lighting 
and  operation  of  street  railways. 

Electrical  Development  in  the  Provinces. 

Province.  City.                                    Current.                      Voltage. 

Albay   Legaspi Direct 220 

Albay    Guinobatan   Constant 110 

Albay    Ligao 110 

Ambos   Camarines ....     Naga  Constant 110 

Ambos   Camarines Naga Constant 110 

Batangas   Taal Alternating  224 

Bohol    Calape 125 

Bulacan    San  Miguel Direct  220 

Bulacan    Malolos Direct 200 

Cagayan Aparri Direct 

Cavite Cavite  Alternating   220 

Cebu  Cebu   220 

Ilocos  Sur Vigan   Direct  220 

Iloilo  Iloilo  Alternating  104 

Iloilo  Jaro Alternating  104 

Isabela   Ilagan 110 

Laguna   San  Pablo 224 

La  Union San  Fernando 120 

Leyte Burauen Direct  224 

Mindoro  San  Jose : 

Mountain   Province . . .     Baguio    Alternating  2,300 

Mountain   Province . . .     Sagada  125 

Occ.  Negros Silay  Direct 110 


72 

Province.  City.                                     Current.                       Voltage. 

Occ.  Negros San  Carlos 250 

Occ.  Negros San  Carlos 125 

Oriental   Negros Dumaguete   Direct  220 

Oriental   Negros ( Silliman  Institute ) . . .     Direct  220 

Oriental   Negros Bais Direct  115 

,  Pangasinan   Lingayen   Alternating  229 

Rizal ::::::::::::::::  &eio'^cati::::|F-^  ft  ^«£s 

Rizal Calaocan f     Electric    Light    and 

Rizal  Pasay   J      Railroad  Company. 

Samar  Calbayog   Direct  125 

Samar Catbalogan '..     Direct  115 

Samar Catarman Direct  110 

Tarlac Tarlac 250 

Tayabas   Lucban  Alternating  110 

Tayabas   Lucena   Direct  220 

Tayabas   Tayabas   "A-6"   440to 

11,000 

Zambales  Olongapo  Direct  230 

Bukidnon Diclom   300 

Davao Davao Direct  250 

Davao Davao Direct  115 

Davao Malita 

Lanao  Kolambugan  Alternating   220 

Sulu Jolo  , 220 

Zamboanga  Zamboanga   220 

Zamboanga  Zamboanga   100 

PAPER  PULP. 
For  several  years  the  Bureau  of  Science  has  been  investigating 
the  suitability  of  bamboo,  cogon  grass,  abaca  or  hemp,  and  various 
palm  fibres  for  paper  pulp.  With  due  regard  to  local  conditions,  the 
data  collected  show  that  an  industry  of  great  economic  value  can  be 
developed.  Careful  surveys  of  some  of  the  available  bamboo  fields 
have  been  made.  Sufficient  data  with  regard  to  the  cost  of  the  raw 
material,  the  quantity  of  bamboo  available,  and  the  cost  of  manufacture 
of  the  pulp  are  given,  showing  that  the  bamboo  soda  pulp  can  be 
developed  into  a  possible  export  trade  in  direct  competition  with 
chemical  wood  pulp  at  present  quotations.  Other  countries  have 
already  utilized  the  information  obtained  from  this  work,  and  ulti- 
mately it  will  be  the  means  of  starting  the  paper  industry  in  the  Philip- 
pines. Samples  of  pulp  manufactured  from  different  Philippine  ma- 
terials can  be  obtained  from  the  Bureau  of  Science. 

THE  PHILIPPINE  EMBROIDERY  INDUSTRY. 
By  M.  J.  de  la  Rama, 
Manager,  Philippine  Commercial  Agency,  San  Francisco,  California, 
The  women  of  the  Philippines  have  long  been  noted  for  their 
patience  and  dexterity  in  hand  embroidery.  This  was  one  of  the 
principal  feminine  industries  taught  in  the  convents  by  the  Spanish, 
French  and  Belgian  Sisters.  They  have  wonderful  designs  of  intricate 
patterns,  using  a  great  variety  of  stitches  and  also  various  patterns  in 
the  open  work  known  as  "  Calado." 


73 

In  the  early  days  the  industrial  trade  was  established  by  native  men, 
who  sold  their  products  only  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  They  would 
purchase  cloth,  draw  a  design  by  pencil  and  give  it  out  to  the  women  to 
embroider,  afterwards  peddling  the  products  around  the  streets  of 
Manila,  selling  it  for  the  best  price  they  could  get.  The  designs  were 
often  crude  and  materials  inferior,  although  the  workmanship  was 
excellent. 

The  women  trained  their  children  to  continue  the  work  of  em- 
broidery, and  passing  from  one  generation  to  another,  the  designs,  the 
materials  and  workmanship  all  showed  great  improvement. 

Gradually  a  great  industry  has  been  developed.  It  was  difficult  to 
secure  an  entrance  into  American  markets,  but  after  the  desired  styles 
and  appropriate  designs  for  American  trade  were  introduced  the  work- 
manship spoke  for  itself  and  has  shown  an  increasing  prosperity  with 
each  year.  The  output  of  hand  embroidery  has  nearly  reached  the 
mark  of  1*7,000,000  a  year,  and  the  demand  exceeds  all  present  avail- 
able sources  of  supply. 

From  the  year  ending  December  31,  1914,  when  the  total  exports  of 
hand  embroidery  from  the  Philippines  totaled  1*324,912,  until  the  end 
of  the  year"  1919,  when  the  total  exportation  amounted  to  f*6,913,004, 
a  period  of  six  years,  the  increase  was  more  than  twenty-fold.  There 
are  to-day  nineteen  concerns  in  the  City  of  Manila,  with  a  personnel 
aggregating  approximately  60,000  persons  in  and  around  the  City  of 
Manila  devoting  their  energies  to  the  preparation  of  this  handiwork 
for  foreign  trade.  According  to  a  recent  investigation  fourteen  of 
these  concerns  are  devoting  their  efforts  entirely  to  export  business  and 
the  five  others  are  devoting  their  energies  to  local  and  export  business 

These  concerns  are  not,  strictly  speaking,  factories,  but  each'  has 
local  headquarters  in  Manila,  and  most  of  them  have  various  sub- 
agencies  in  Manila  and  the  adjoining  provinces.  Each  concern  main- 
tains from  five  to  one  hundred  employees  at  the  local  headquarters  and 
from  ten  to  one  hundred  agents  who  deal  with  piece-workers  in  the 
districts  of  Paco,  Tondo,  Ermita,  Malate,  Santa  Ana,  and  Singalong  in 
the  City  of  Manila,  and  the  municipalities  of  Mariquina  and  Paranaque 
of  the  Province  of  Rizal,  in  the  Province  of  Cavite,  in  the  municipality 
of  Taal,  of  the  Province  of  Batangas,  in  Calumpit  and  Hagonoy  of  the 
Province  of  Bulacan  and  in  various  parts  of  Pampanga  and  Tarlac,  not 
to  mention  limited  districts  in  the  Visayas. 

Employees  engaged  at  the  local  headquarters  are  for  the  most  part 
working  on  a  salary  basis  and  are  engaged  in  cutting,  sewing,  trimming, 
ribboning,  ironing,  packing  and  embroidering  for  export  trade.  These 
employees  in  the  City  of  Manila  do  not  exceed  1,700,  and  in  addition 
to  this  the  industry  maintains  about  350  agents  or  "  cabecillas  "  who 
deal  with  the  embroiderers  who  do  piece  work. 


74 

The  agents  distribute  the  material  for  embroidering  by  the  piece- 
workers in  Manila  and  the  adjoining  provinces,  pay  for  the  handiwork 
when  finished  and  return  the  product  to  the  headquarters  at  Manila 
preparatory  to  export. 

Wages  on  the  daily  basis  for  boys  engaged  in  ironing,  packing,  etc., 
are  about  1*0.80  to  1*1.00  a  day;  for  adults  in  similar  work,  from  1*1.50 
to  1*2.00;  for  unskilled  sewers,  mostly  girls  who  are  beginning  the 
work,  a  daily  wage  of  from  1*0.80  to  1*1.00  is  paid.  Skilled  workers 
among  the  women  are  paid  from  1*1.50  to  ^2.50  daily.  Those  engaged 
in  cutting  are  paid  from  1*0.80  to  1*1.50  a  day. 

Embroidering  is  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  1*0.75  to  1*1.00  for  simple 
designs,  K.50  to  1*5.00  for  a  better  grade  of  work  of  a  more  intricate 
character,  and  special  designs  are  paid  for  according  to  agreement,  in 
some  instances  as  high  as  1*15.00.  Daily  wages  average  from  1*1.50  to 
M.50  per  day  and  some  receive  as  much  as  M.50  a  day. 

Philippine  hand  embroideries  are  of  cotton  and  linen.  Practically 
no  silks  are  used.  The  materials  chiefly  used  in  the  making  of  Philip- 
pine hand  embroideries  are  nainsooks,  batiste,  voile,  georgette,  crepe  de 
chine  and  net  cotton.  All  these  materials  are  imported  from  the  United 
States,  and  have  materially  increased  in  price  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war.  Prior  to  the  date,  nainsooks  or  batiste  could  be  secured  in 
Manila  from  1*0.12  to  W.25  a  yard,  while  at  the  present  time  the  cost 
ranges  from  1*0.75  to  1*1.50. 

The  principal  articles  of  embroideries  made  in  the  Philippines  are 
lingerie,  children's  clothes,  handkerchiefs,  table  cloths  and  underwear 
of  various  classes,  which  for  the  most  part  are  prepared  according  to 
orders  received  from  the  United  States.  The  work  done  is  of  a  very 
good  grade  and  brings  good  prices  in  the  United  States. 

Embroideries  of  the  Philippines  are  exported  chiefly  to  the  United 
States,  although  a  very  small  quantity  of  them  are  exported  to  the 
United  Kingdom,  Hong  Kong  and  Australasia.  The  exports  from  1914 
up  to  and  including  the  first  six  months  of  1918  are  as  follows : 

1914 1*324,912 

1915 735,303 

1916 2,328,024 

1917 3,929,318 

1918 4,361,352 

1919 6,913,004 

While  the  demand  in  the  United  States  seems  to  be  steadily  increas- 
ing for  Philippine  embroideries,  there  are  indications  that  the  increase 
in  exports  is  due  to  the  decrease  of  exports  of  embroideries  from 
Europe  to  the  United  States.    Imports  of  embroideries,  laces,  handker- 


75 

chiefs  and  edgings  to  the  United  States  from  Europe  and  the  Madeiras 
during  the  years  1912  to  1918,  inclusive,  follow: 

1912 $37,094,161  00 

1913 35,776,301  00 

1914 33,865,822  00 

1915 20,800,266  00 

1916 21,153,392  00 

1917 16,648,857  00 

1918 10,421,083  00 

The  heavy  increase  in  the  exports  of  the  Philippine  hand  embroid- 
eries beginning  with  the  year  1915  and  the  corresponding  decrease  in 
the  United  States  imports  of  embroideries  from  Europe  and  Madeiras 
seems  to  indicate  that  the  Philippine  demand  is  due  in  a  measure  to 
war  conditions,  but  notwithstanding  the  resumption  of  the  manufacture 
and  export  of  embroideries  and  laces  from  Europe,  Philippine  hand 
embroideries  have  attained  a  position  in  the  United  States  market 
which  they  will  not  lose,  and  on  the  contrary  will  continue  to  develop 
even  faster  than  it  can  be  supplied  with  the  present  available  labor 
supply  in  the  Islands. 

Notwithstanding  the  trying  nature  on  the  eyes  of  the  work  of  em- 
broidering, which  prevents  embroidery  workers  from  devoting  long 
hours  of  daily  work,  the  present  available  supply  of  labor  nearly  keeps 
pace  with  the  present  demand. 

The  field  for  further  development  is  immense.  The  present  output 
is  only  from  the  City  of  Manila  and  outlying  territory.  The  rest  of  the 
Archipelago  is  not  doing  anything  in  this  line,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that 
with  the  proper  training  the  women  out  in  the  provinces  could  increase 
production  by  even  a  hundred- fold  should  the  demand  warrant  it. 

Hats  and  Hat  Making — The  Bureau  of  Science  has  published  data 
on  the  types  and  grades  of  Philippine  hats,  the  materials  of  which  they 
are  made,  how  the  materials  are  prepared,  where  they  are  secured  and 
the  centers  of  the  hat-making  industry.  The  manufacture  and  expor- 
tation of  hats  from  the  Philippine  Islands  is  a  comparatively  large 
industry. 


14  DAY  USE 

REruBNTODBSKFKOM  WHICH  BOKKOWBD 

LOAN  DEPT. 


RENEWALS  ONLY 


T/D  2lA-45m-9,'67 
(H5067S10H76B 


General  Library 
University  of  California 

Berkeley 


Binder 

C*ylord  Bros.,  Inc. 

Stockton,  Calif. 

T.  M.  Reg.  U.S.  Pat.  Off. 


^  -i 


49291 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


